Sleeping Beauty
by itanejiluver
Summary: Sleeping Beauty with Naruto characters; when Neji was barely a week old, he was spirited away by his fairy aunts to live in the forest in order to escape his curse. When he turns sixteen, Prince Itachi comes to take him back to his family...a sweet spin on Sleeping Beauty. YAOI; main pairing is Itaneji. AU/Fluff lots of it! /Fairy ninjas. Enjoy! Major OOC.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: Hi! I'm itanejiluver…this is my first fic, so please be gentle…

Sleeping Beauty

"In a far away land long ago lived a King and his fair queen. For many years they had longed for a child and finally their wish was granted. A son was born and they called him Neji. Though King Hizashi finally gained a child he wife had died giving birth. Leaving the gentle king with only his beloved son and sweet memories of his departed wife, but that just meant he had to be even more grateful for his new son. Throughout the kingdom a grand festivals were thrown so that all the people would know, and would celebrate, his son's birth.

Everyone around the kingdom, both near and far came to give their blessings to the new born boy. Thus, on this joyous day did everyone celebrate the long-awaited royal birth, and the good King Hizashi made welcome of his life long friends. The trumpeters played the fanfare and King Fugaku and his beautifulqueen Mikoto, and their gorgeous prince Itachi. Fondly these monarchs dreamed their kingdoms would forever be joined through the arranged marriage of each others children. Even though both were children were boys, both kingdoms were accepting of same sex relations but hopes of grandchildren would be forced to wait until they got closer to that bridge before crossing it.

"Itachi? It's been a while since I've seen you." Hizashi smiled down at the boy, who looked at him with an emotionless mask on his face.

"It is a pleasure to see you too, Uncle Hizashi."

"Please pardon Itachi…he's very formal," Mikoto said quickly, grasping her five-year old son's hand.

"Hmph!" Fugaku coughed in to his hand as three fairies swooped down upon the congregation.

"Hizashi-sama!" they cried out in unison.

"Ah! Ten-Ten, Sakura, Hinata." He nodded at each of them in turn.

"We have come to congratulate you…and to offer our gifts to the child." Hinata curtsied nervously. With another stately nod, the three swooped over to hover over the young prince.

"Aw…isn't he adorable? Isn't he, isn't he?" Ten-Ten squealed.

"Hush, and pay attention. Remember what happened the _last _time you lost focus?" Sakura snapped. Ten-Ten's squeals promptly subsided as her facial expressions turned more serious.

"I-I will give my gift first," Hinata said softly. "To you, Hyuga Neji, I grant you the gift of kindness and grace so that you may be gentle and beautiful in the midst of even the ugliest situations."

"I grant you the gift of intelligence and resourcefulness so that you may lead a clever life, and so that you may find happiness where you go." Sakura dispelled a spray of sparks with a sharp flick of her wrist and fluttered back respectfully as Ten-Ten came forward.

Ten-Ten took a deep breath and began to speak, only to blown off to the side by a powerful gust of wind.

Everyone in the courtyard cowered before the malevolent figure that stood in the middle of the grounds.

"Danzou? What is _he_ doing here?" Sakura muttered under her breath anxiously. Her fists tightened as she glared hatefully at the man.

"My, what a party you have here." Hinata winced, her wings fluttering uncomfortably at the sound of the man's voice; raspy and ancient; it reminded her of nails being dragged down a chalkboard.

"A pity that I wasn't invited, eh Hizashi? Thought you could just forget about old Danzou and get away with it, hm?" The ancient wizard leered down at the defenseless baby boy in the cradle before him.

At that moment, Ten-Ten staggered to her feet, snarling. "You aren't welcome here, Danzou."

"My, my. Didn't you mother teach you manners, little girl? Not wanted, eh…well, that simply doesn't sit well with me. Not well _at all._" His glare deepened.

"Little girl!" she shrieked. "I'll show you little y-" Ten-Ten struggled to speak, but found that she couldn't seem to move. Stunned, she glanced at her comrades who seemed to be struggling as well.

Danzou turned away from the fairies and continued to speak. "Well, if I am unwanted, I shall simply bestow my gift on the child and be on my way."

"You aren't angry, Lord Danzou?" Hizashi remarked suspiciously. He seemed not to have noticed the fairies' predicament.

"No, no need to worry my dear Hizashi." The wizard turned back to the child and sneered. "My gift to the child is this; he will have the mark of the caged bird for all to see, and on the eve of his sixteenth birthday he shall prick his finger on a spinning wheel and die!"

"No!" Hizashi shouted, and rushed to the child as Danzou cackled evilly and vanished in a cloud of foul-smelling smoke.

The fairies hovered over the king concernedly as their invisible bonds suddenly vanished.

"Isn't there anything we can do to save my son?" he begged them.

"Don't worry so, Hizashi. The lovely Ten-Ten hasn't spoken yet," Fugaku said, bowing courteously to said fairy.

"Well…" she murmured sadly, "Danzou's power is too strong for us to break the curse. However, I _can_ mitigate the effects." Scowling, she fiddled nervously with the twin buns on the side of her head before saying "My gift to you is this, Neji: Not in death, but deep in sleep, the fateful prophecy, you'll keep, and from this slumber you shall awake, when true love's kiss the spell shall break."

Sakura snickered. "That's some tricky rhyming there, Ten-Ten."

"Rhyming spells are the most powerful," Ten-Ten snapped back. "So hush; don't tell me that you could've come up with something better so spontaneously." Hinata giggled at the twos' bickering.

However, King Hizashi was still worried for his son's safety. That night, he ordered every spinning wheel in the kingdom to be burned. As he stared out at the leaping flames in the palace courtyard, he could only pray that Neji would be safe.

Meanwhile, the three fairies attempted to think of a solution to the problem within the castle greenhouse.

"Sakura, don't be so vicious with those violets," Ten-Ten admonished gently.

"Sorry." Sakura scowled and moved on to a different set of flowers as Hinata restored the glittery violets back to their normal condition.

"It's just that…a bonfire won't stop Danzou," Sakura stated firmly. "There must be _something_ we can do."

"…We could take care of the boy and hide him away in the forest until his sixteenth birthday," Hinata murmured softly. "Who better to protect him than us?"

All three fairies paused as the full implications of what Hinata had said hit them.

"It's perfect!" Ten-Ten squealed. "I told you he was adorable didn't I? Didn't I?"

"Wait!" Sakura protested, shouting over Ten-Ten's squeals. "But we don't know _anything_ about raising children or-"

"If humans can do it, then we can do it too. After all, someday I plan on having a child so what better place to learn?" Hinata grinned.

"But fairy children are different than humans and…" Hinata waved Sakura's weakening protests away. "We mustn't use magic though. We can set up protective borders in the forest and…"

"Who said anything about a forest?"

"Oh, I've been thinking about this for a while. What we do is…we take the child to a secluded corner of the forest and raise him until his sixteenth birthday where we tell him who he is and bring back to the castle so then he can marry Prince Itachi!"

"Why would he have to marry Itachi-kun?" Ten-Ten asked interestedly.

"…it would make the kings happy, wouldn't you agree?"

"You just want to see them together don't you?"

"…Yes," Hinata muttered guiltily. "But that aside, its still a good plan right?"

"There is a catch isn't there?"

"Well…we'll have to live like mortals for the next sixteen years. That way, Danzou will never suspect us."

"Ah…I see what you're thinking now…" Sakura nodded seriously. "Well, anything for the young prince I suppose…"

The three flew off to inform the king (after finishing restoring the greenhouse though). He watched sadly as his most prized possession, his son, disappeared in to the night, and for the next sixteen years of his life.

However, the kingdom rejoiced as each year passed by, for as long as thunder rumbled and lightning exploded over the haunted cavern that was Danzou's abode, they knew that the prince was safe.

a/n: So…whaddya think? TBC! Please R/R.


	2. Chapter 2

_Sixteen years later…_

"Sixteen years…and still no trace of the boy?" Danzou snarled dangerously.

The ANBU around him shifted nervously. "That is correct, sire."

"Have you searched everywhere?"

"Indeed. We have scoured the kingdom high and low for the child. He is not to be found."

"My dragon, Sai, has detected a possibility in the forest near the capitol. Have you checked there?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, check again!" Danzou snarled fiercely. "Sai states that there are humans inhabiting the forest in the area. Check if any of them are…suspicious. Of course, the journey takes several days to arrive at the edge of the forest, so I expect you to begin as soon as possible." His eyes bored in to the masked figures before him.

"Hai!" The team of three vanished leaving a slight breeze in their wake.

"Sixteen years, and not a trace of the boy." Danzou sighed as he stroked his pet crow's feather. "Deidara, you are my final hope. Circle far and wide, and search for a boy near the age of sixteen. Do not fail."

The crow ruffled his golden feathers and vanished in the blink of an eye.

And thus, for sixteen years, the whereabouts of the prince remained a mystery. The fairies cared for the prince the best they could with careful planning. They laid fool-proof, flexible protection around the cottage they lived in. They also attempted to give him the best childhood they could, and taught him everything they knew to be good.

They also trained him in the martial arts, and in the ninja way. They figured that, when the time for him to marry Prince Itachi came, they might as well have something in common. The carefully coordinated trips in to the nearest village so that Neji would learn how to interact with others and so that he would learn about the 'outside' world were rather stressful, but worth it to the fairies. It seemed that Neji had a natural affinity to social affairs.

As the time grew near for Neji to return to the castle, though, the fairies grew more and more anxious, constantly sending Neji out on errands so that they might tweak the magical protection around their home and discuss the near future of the prophecy.

Currently, Neji was on one such errand. He found his mind wandering back to the suspicious events surrounding the initial order.

He'd awoken to the sound of pots and pans clanging on the floor below, and after dressing in his usual attire (a white button up shirt and comfortable blue jeans), he'd gone below to see what all the hubbub was about.

Upon asking what his loving aunts were up to, he'd promptly been told to go out and pick fresh blackberries with the usual instructions not to speak to strangers and to take his time. Neji shook his head and tightened his grip on the basket. He could only wonder what his devious aunts were up to back at the house.

For now, though, he had to be careful. A malevolent presence had been detected in the woods relatively close by in the form of a black dragon, and his aunts had told him to be particularly careful; using jyuuken on the beast would be less effective and more aggravating for it.

Neji dropped down in front of a thicket of ripe blackberries. As he began to strip the stems, absentmindedly sorting out the good from the bad from habit, he vaguely wondered if it had anything to do with his curse mark. His aunts had been rather vague on the matter, and told him that as long as no one saw it until after sixteenth birthday, all would be well.

Neji shook his mind from such morbid thoughts as a particularly stubborn bramble called for his attention. Hearing a rustle behind him, Neji whirled around, only to be rewarded with the sight of his good friend, Shikamaru, a stag who lived near the cottage. Grinning, Neji fed the impatient deer a ripe blackberry from his fingers murmuring greetings.

The animals of the forest didn't mind Neji's presence. He never harmed, nor bothered them, so they let him be. Many befriended him, and he treated them well.

Neji began to talk to Shikamaru about his more and more frequently recurring dreams about a handsome man whose name he didn't know.

"I know they're just dreams…but I feel like I've seen him before. I hope some day that I can meet him," Neji murmured wistfully. He dropped a final blackberry in to his (hand-woven) basket, and stood back up, but paused at the same time as Shikamaru.

"Did you hear that?" Neji asked the stag worriedly. The proud stag pawed the ground anxiously in response.

"Is it the dragon? No? Yes, it sounded like a human to me too. If a human made it this close to the cottage, then they must have good intentions…" Neji trailed off. Then, he squared his shoulders and hoisted the basket of berries on to his hip.

"I'm going to see who this person is." The stag whickered anxiously, but Neji waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, I'll be careful. Don't worry so much, Shikamaru." With that being said, Neji activated his eyes and looked in the direction of the voice, careful to keep his chakra waves concealed.

Neji relaxed and deactivated his eyes. "It's just a man by himself who stopped by the river for a drink. He's going in the opposite direction now." Shikamaru whickered his approval, and both boy and stag set off for the cottage.

In the mean time, Uchiha Itachi paused as a deer path beckoned him invitingly; ahead of him, he heard a beautiful voice laughing. For a moment, he stood quietly debating his options, but in the end, curiosity won. Taking a deep breath, he quickly flitted down the deer path and out of sight.

He failed to see the conspicuous golden-feathered bird flying above him.

XXX

Itachi loped down the deer path until he came upon a sunny clearing in which a beautiful teenager with pale white eyes and long brown hair was well…dancing in.

Itachi watched in sheer fascination as the boy twirled around happily in the midst of a swirling cloud of purple butterflies.

_He looks familiar…have I met him before?_ Quietly, he stepped in to the clearing.

"Hey there, little bird." He slipped in behind the boy, gently capturing his wrists. The kid stiffened and promptly threw Itachi over his shoulder. Itachi hit the ground hard, but jumped back on his feet and grinned at the site of the pale-eyed beauty perched in a tree above him, clutching on to a basket of blackberries.

"My name's Itachi. What's yours?" Itachi was beside the boy in a flash, and seized his arms more firmly this time.

To his surprise, the boy's eyes went wide, and then he relaxed.

"My name is Neji. Sorry for throwing you before…" Neji averted his eyes shyly. "It's just that, not very many people come through this part of the forest."

"It doesn't matter." On impulse, Itachi pressed his lips to the back of Neji's hands. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?"

Two pink circles appeared on Neji's cheeks, and his eyes widened. Itachi chuckled at his reaction.

"I imagine that people must have. Or perhaps you have spent your whole life around the blind." Itachi's hand gently caressed Neji's face. He was unsurprised when Neji took a tentative step back.

"U-um…what are you doing in this part of the forest?" Neji asked, uncertainly. _Don't talk to strangers!_ His mind was screaming. Shrieking, more like. But he knew this man…sort of. This was the man that kept appearing in his dreams. And currently, Neji was very sure that he was also hitting on him. _Hard._

"Well, originally I was in the forest for a mission (Itachi stepped closer to Neji), but the mission can wait, I think."

Neji took another step back, blushing even harder. "Are you a ninja or something?"

"Hm? Oh, yes." Itachi continued to move closer to Neji until Neji was backed up against the tree trunk. _Finally._

Gently, he pressed his lips over the younger boy's. He was rewarded by a gasp, and he smirked. Finally, he drew back to see Neji staring at him wide-eyed and blushing.

"See something you like?" They stared at each other with smoldering eyes until a roar was heard off in the distance.

Neji gasped, and dropped the basket of berries. "We have to get out of here!" without thinking, he grabbed Itachi's hand and jumped down from the tree. Before he could take off for the cottage though, Itachi gently held him back.

"What was that?"

"It's a black dragon. Please come with me…I can provide you with shelter until it leaves."

"I can fight-"

"NO!" Neji paused, startled by his own vehemence. "Please…don't! It's much too strong," he pleaded.

Itachi's face softened. "Pretty one, if you're worried for me…"

"It's just…The dragon is very evil and it has already hurt so many in the forest and its so very strong..." Neji felt tears pricking at the back of his eyes; Itachi seemed to understand.

"Alright, I'll come with you. Lead the way!"

"Hai!" Neji tightened his grip on the man's hand (his heart beat quickened), and they sped off towards the cottage.

Neji tugged Itachi in to the cottage as the sounds of falling trees drew nearer and nearer.

Itachi was stunned to see his three favorite aunts, Ten-Ten, Sakura, and Hinata.

"What…?" Itachi stopped dead; Neji squeezed his hand and without thinking, Itachi's sharingan eyes activated to confirm, to verify that his elusive aunts were truly standing in front of him.

Which could only mean one thing. Itachi's (brilliant) mind was already processing the information that lead him to the inevitable conclusion that Neji (sweet, beautiful Neji) was in actuality _Prince_ Neji, who was also the man he was set to marry in a week.

At the sight of Itachi's legendary eyes, Neji released his hand with a barely withheld gasp. With those eyes, Itachi could only be Prince Itachi. A blush running high on his cheeks, he folded his hands behind his back neatly and lowered his head in the presence of a member of the royal family.

Ten-Ten's voice cut through Itachi's thoughts, and the look all three leveled at him told him everything he needed to know.

It also had a distinct edge that seemed to say _"Keep quiet if you know what's good for you, kiddo."_

"Neji, go upstairs and prepare the guest room for Prince Itachi." Itachi glanced over to see Neji's pale face and wide eyes before he bowed, and promptly vanished upstairs.

The moment he was out of earshot, Sakura pulled him in to a hug. "My, Itachi-kun, you've grown up so much since we saw you last."

"You saw me two months ago," Itachi choked out. "And Aunt, you're squishing me."

To his relief, she let go of him quickly, and grinned up at him.

"You're still that much more of a man, darling. Sit down and have some tea, hm?"

Itachi sat down cautiously at the table and decided to get straight to the point.

"So that's Neji, huh?"

The three paused for a moment before continuing what they were doing.

"That's right. It was quite darling of him to offer you shelter in our humble home from that horrid dragon," Ten-Ten remarked as Hinata set a cup of tea in front of Itachi.

"Darling indeed," Itachi muttered under his breath. "Has Danzou ascertained your location? If that's so, we can always move him to the capitol a week early."

"No, Danzou isn't absolutely certain we're here. However, your arrival solves several problems for us." The three sat down at the table with their respective cups of tea.

"Danzou sent members of the Foundation to come investigate when I had a slip in my chakra cover," Hinata admitted shyly. "We have to go deal with them, and they'll arrive tomorrow. You can stay here with Neji until then. If we don't return five days from now, then you need to take him to the capitol yourself."

"But my mission-"

"That has already been taken care of. King Fugaku has already received a message that you've been waylaid and that you are in safe hands doing a favor for us."

"Does he know that I'm with Neji?"

"Of course not," Sakura said blankly. "The message easily could have been intercepted."

"…Right." Itachi failed to see the logic behind their thought processes, but then again it _was_ his aunts he was talking about. They never screwed things up.

"We'll be leaving in a few hours." Hinata got up and walked over to the sink. "Oh, and Itachi? Neji doesn't know that he's actually a prince. We've arranged a jutsu that will tell him everything he needs to know that should go off in two days. Until then, not a word about his heritage."

Itachi marveled at Hinata's ability to become incredibly assertive in demanding situations.

"Yes, Aunt. Not a word."

"Oh, and your being a prince didn't seem to go over too well with Neji. I suggest you find a way to fix that if you're going to enjoy any of your stay in our humble home." Sakura, Ten-Ten and Hinata left the kitchen leaving Itachi stunned and struggling for words.

_One hour later…_

"We'll be back in three days. Until then, It-" Hinata clamped a hand over Ten-Ten's loud mouth and jumped in.

"_Prince_ Itachi (she glared at Hinata) will be staying with just in case anything manages to break through the defenses. He's quite the formidable warrior."

Neji nodded quietly, glancing over at Itachi who smiled at him.

"Now be good and keep an eye out for yourselves," Sakura chided. "If we're not back in five days, he'll take you the capitol as well." Neji nodded again, and in a flurry of brief hugs and kisses they were gone.

And Neji was alone with Itachi.

The sound of Itachi's stomach protesting broke the awkward silence between them. Itachi was amused to see Neji flinch slightly, and then move off in to the kitchen.

"I'm afraid we don't have very much that I can make, but if biscuits and cheese sit well with you, then…" Neji trailed off questioningly (and, to Itachi's enjoyment, slightly flustered).

"That would be fine, thank you. I would like to bathe, having been in the forest for a week, and I was wondering where…?"

"Oh, it's just up the stairs. Here, I'll show you," Neji said quickly, heading for the stairs.

Itachi stopped him with a gentle grip on his wrist.

"Please disregard my status as a member of the royal family. It grows tiresome after a while," he murmured.

_How arrogant._ "If it makes you comfortable."

Itachi chuckled and released his arm. "My dear, it is entirely so that you may be more comfortable."

Neji rolled his eyes slightly as he started up the stairs. "Aren't you engaged to marry someone?" _Is it wise to flirt so…strongly with me?_

Itachi paused, and then chose to lie. "No, I'm not." If he told Neji that he was engaged to marry _him_, he had a feeling that Hinata would kill him. And Neji would think he was lying. Or maybe Neji would faint, or would he blush that adorable little blush of his…?

"I see." Neji couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from lifting slightly.

"You're smiling." Itachi smirked at him.

"I most certainly am not," Neji said dignifiedly. "The bathroom's right here, and your room is the second door on the left. I'll leave you to it." Neji quickly retreated down the stairs in to the kitchen where he blissfully twirled around for a moment before starting on the beginnings of biscuit dough.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry if formatting is weird or something like that; I'm still figuring out how to upload the chapters.

Warnings: Fluff, snuggling, cuteness in general…

I just realized that I haven't put a disclaimer up in the first two chapters; disclaimer is on my profile.

Chapter 3

_The next morning…_

Neji woke slowly, shivering slightly under his quilt. Glancing out the window, he could see that it was snowing quite heavily, even though it was still dark out. He paused as he rolled on to the other side of his bed and realized how warm it was.

_Odd._

Stretching lazily, he dressed quickly and padded downstairs, not expecting Itachi to be up so early.

To his surprise, there was a note on the table and Itachi's shoes were gone.

_Training outside. Not that I expect you to be up at this ungodly hour, but oh well._

_-Itachi_

A smile unfurled across his face, but then just as quickly vanished.

He'd gone outside without a cloak? Neji ran to the closet next to the door and through it open. His cloak was still hanging there, along with his winter boots sitting peacefully on the floor. _What kind of ninja goes out training in such heavy snow without proper protective gear?_ Neji anxiously activated his eyes while starting a fire in front of the sofa and racing around trying to find a blanket.

Just then, Itachi walked in through the front door, covered in snow and shivering slightly. Neji flew towards him, quilt in hand, and began brushing snow off of his shoulders.

"Why didn't you grab a coat when you went outside?" Neji demanded, brushing off the last of the snow from Itachi's shoulders and shooing him toward the fire. "What kind of idiot decides to go training in this heavy of a snow anyways?" He wrapped the blanket firmly around Itachi's shoulders and reached up to sweep some more rapidly melting snow out of his hair.

"If you greet me like this every time, maybe I should do it more often." Itachi grinned down at Neji and wrapped his arms around Neji's waist, pulling him close.

"I'm fine, little bird," he whispered in his ear.

"Well, it's just that you don't get your fingers or toes back if you get frostbite," Neji mumbled against Itachi's neck.

Itachi laughed lightly, but shivered slightly at the feeling of Neji's lips fluttering slightly against his neck. It seemed that he hadn't figured out that Itachi had slept next to him last night.

To his surprise, he felt Neji shift slightly, and then lean against him. Looking down, he was startled when Neji stood up on his toes and gave him a shy, swift kiss on the lips, and then pulled away.

"Are you hungry?" Neji asked without looking at him, hands folded behind his back shyly.

"Yes, actually," Itachi said casually. _It's probably better not to push things now. Especially if Neji decided that he wanted to initiate contact between us._

"I'll make something." Itachi noticed the blush running high on Neji's face.

_To hell with this. _Sighing, he pulled him back by the arm and gently gripped his chin, running his thumb over Neji's pronounced cheekbones.

Leaning down, he kissed the tip of Neji's nose and then softly, his lips, delighted as Neji's eyes fluttered closed and he clung to the front of Itachi's mesh shirt.

When he finally released Neji's lips for air, he was unsurprised when Neji hesitantly backed up before heading in to the kitchen.

"Rice is fine, right?"

Itachi's lips curved upward slowly as he watched the love of his life disappear underneath the counter top and reappear with a ten-pound bag of rice.

"Just fine."

_Later that day…_

Neji settled comfortably underneath the blankets on his bed and slipped his reading glasses on to his nose. He always enjoyed snuggling under his quilt when it snowed and reading a good book. To his surprise, Itachi tapped the doorframe slightly before leaning against it.

"You wear reading glasses." It wasn't a question as so much of a statement. Neji swore that he could see that cocky smirk on his face.

"Yes," he said flatly. "Something you need?"

"Move over." Neji squeaked as Itachi settled down comfortably on the bed next to him, and then pulled him in to his lap.

"I-Itachi! Stop it!"

"What's wrong little bird?" Itachi grinned down at Neji while keeping a firm grip on his arms.

"You insufferable bastard! Let go of me!"

Itachi looked down at Neji's wobbly, surprised lavender eyes and relented. To his surprise, though, Neji simply moved over to sit next to him and shyly brushed Itachi's hip with his own.

Itachi wrapped an arm around Neji's waist, and leaned back in to the headboard. "What are you reading?"

"…It's called Spindle's End. It's a spin on sleeping beauty," Neji said, nervously fingering the front cover. "It's a good book."

"Hm." Itachi settled Neji firmly against the side of his body and starting running his fingers through his hair. "You can read, I don't really mind."

Neji shot him a look. "As if I could concentrate with you touching my hair," he blurted out without thinking. His hands immediately flew up to cover his mouth, his cheeks stained a vibrant shade of red.

Itachi smirked sexily down at him. "Oh, distracting is it?" He kept brushing his fingers through Neji's long hair, occasionally allowing his fingers to brush against Neji's back, enjoying the shivers he received in response.

Neji went bright red and hid his face in his hands, unable to repress his responses to Itachi's touch.

"Itachi, stop that." Itachi thought it was adorable how Neji still hid his face in his hands.

"Hm…let's think about this…" Itachi paused for a moment before continuing to caresses. "No." Leaning over, he lifted Neji in to his lap yet again. Neji responded by burying his (glowing) face in to Itachi's chest. Itachi shifted so that he was holding Neji in his arms protectively.

"…Itachi?"

"Hm?"

"What's…what's your life like, at the capitol?" Neji's voice sounded so wistful that Itachi pressed his lips in to the younger's hair.

"It's not particularly exciting. Since my parents decided to have Sasuke succeed the throne, I'm just a prince, but I'm left to my own devices most of the time. I joined the ninja ranks and realized that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I get sent out on missions every once in a while, and when I'm at home I usually read or spend my time in the greenhouse."

"It sounds very peaceful." Neji looked up at him. "We are living in a time of peace, after all."

"Indeed. Although, I'm expected home soon for the arrival of Hizashi's missing son at the capitol. That's why I'll be escorting your aunts and you up there."

"Ah, yes. My aunts don't talk about it much, though." Neji frowned slightly.

"It's not much of a story," Itachi intervened. "I don't know it so well myself." Neji purred contentedly in response. His eyelids felt heavy, and Itachi was so warm…

_I love you, Itachi…_

Neji was unaware that he'd whispered it aloud as he drifted off to sleep.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

a/n: I present to you…chapter 4! Warnings: Um…not much really. We get a little bit of Itachi back story and Neji finds out about his past. Disclaimer: All characters and anything affiliated with naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

Chapter 4

_The next morning…_

Itachi's eyes flickered open and he irritably flicked his (now mussed) ponytail over his shoulder as he sat up. He paused as his eyes landed on the sleeping face of his…boyfriend? Soon-to-be fiancé?

Itachi gave up on trying to place a name to their relationship and returned to his original train of thought. He clearly remembered what Neji had whispered the previous night before and his initial shock, and then undeniable pleasure. It had taken a lot of control not to run around the house screaming "He loves me! NEJI HYUGA LOVES ME!"

Of course, he would probably get a lot of crap for it back at the castle. At home, he usually kept up a light mask to hide his emotions and Neji hadn't really seen that side of him. It had been a lot worse when he was younger, but once he was relieved of the responsibility of becoming king, he'd found that it was much easier to open up to the other nobles in the castle. However, that faint mask…that faint repression of showing his emotions to the others always remained. However, this wasn't exactly the case with Neji. With Neji, he felt free to express his emotions, and that he would never be judged by his kind-hearted beauty.

Yes, _his_ kind-hearted beauty. As he slipped out of bed, he was startled when a pair of sleepy eyes opened next to him.

Neji's reaction was priceless. He tugged the quilt up to cover the lower half of his body, his face burning a brilliant red the whole time.

"Y-y-you…"

"What, no 'you insufferable bastard' this time?" Itachi smirked down at Neji. Leaning down, he brushed a faint kiss against his cheek before turning away. "I'm going outside to tr-"

"Oh no you're not," Neji said sharply. "It's snowing and you are staying inside with me."

"Love, that sounds like a wonderful idea but-"

"But it's also a fairy festival that lasts all day today, and if you go outside you'll most certainly get hurt."

"…by the fairies?"

"You've never seen the wild fey before, have you?" Neji scowled and slipped out of bed. "They're different from household fairies, that's for sure. They're just…much more aggressive and they're not _human_ like most household fey. They don't view humans as a benefit to the forest for the most part."

"Is it difficult for you then?"

Neji paused, startled. "Oh…it's not so bad. I have a little fairy magic in me."

"Like what?" Itachi watched interestedly as Neji began absent-mindedly buttoning up his shirt front.

Neji pointedly turned away before answering "Beast-speech and…ok, don't laugh."

"I won't," Itachi responded soothingly. "What is it?"

Neji took a deep breath before replying "I make things grow."

"Things?"

"Well, anything really." Neji paused, and then pointed his finger at a lose thread in Itachi's sleeve. To Itachi's amazement, the thread grew longer as a blue aura light up around Neji's hand.

"Why did you think I would laugh? That's amazing!"

"I mostly use it for plants is all," Neji grumbled. "Can you leave so that I can finish changing, please?"

"What? Oh." Itachi hurried out of the room, mildly embarrassed. He paused halfway down the stairs when a resounding crash came from Neji's room. Whirling around, he darted back up the stairs and knocked on his door.

"Are you alright?"

_No response._ Itachi opened the door and found Neji passed out on the floor next to the lamp that he'd fallen in to.

"This must be the jutsu that Hinata was talking about," Itachi mused aloud. He carefully set the lamp straight and carried Neji downstairs in to the living room where he could keep an eye on him until he woke.

Until then, he could only hope that everything went alright.

Neji, on the other hand, was going through an entirely different experience. He was being shown a nonstop stream of the memories that Hinata, Ten-Ten, and Sakura had of the imperial palace; he was appropriately stunned when they showed him that he was "The Lost Prince" of the Land of Fire. He watched various nobles and the young princes struggle through their lives and blossom in to the people they were born to be. He watched as Naruto struggled to gain recognition (and chased Sasuke around everywhere), Sasuke struggling with the imminent kingship, and he saw his father for the first time. However, most of the memories seemed to focus on Itachi's journey.

They showed him as a young child, unable to tell anyone anything for fear of being weak.

Next, they showed him as a young adult, free of the kingship, struggling over his father's decision.

Then a quick flash of several different frames showing Itachi gaining more confidence as he discovered his natural aptitude for martial arts and his rise in power through the palace ninja.

Finally, Neji could sense that he was nearing the end of the non-stop flood of sensations. One particular frame stood out in his mind.

"_Do you agree to the terms?" Hizashi and Fugaku stared at Ten-Ten, Hinata, and Sakura, and then back down at the paper in front of them._

"…_Itachi is gay…" Fugaku mused._

"_Do I even have a right to give my son away in marriage?" Hizashi asked, pointedly glaring at Fugaku._

"_Oh dear, don't get in to your whole father complex. We practically kidnapped the boy," Ten-Ten dismissed._

"_But they're so young!" Hizashi protested. "I mean, seriously, Itachi's not even fourteen and Neji's barely seven!"_

"_Isn't that about the time when you got engaged to __**your**__ wife?"_

"_It's not the same! Itachi won't even get to meet Neji until the day they get married! How is __**that**__ going to work out?"_

"_Everything will be fine in the end. You'll see." Ten-Ten smiled mysteriously even as Hizashi resignedly gave his consent._

…he was engaged to Itachi?

Wait, _what?_

Before Neji had ore time to think, though, the tornado of sensations was upon him again and he was lost in a whirlwind of color and noise.

Finally, it was all over. Neji opened his eyes blearily, blinking slightly at the bright light of the fire.

"Itachi?" he mumbled, attempting to sit up. Itachi was instantly by his side, supporting him in to an upright position. "What time is it?"

"It's about 6:00 I think," Itachi said calmly. "…Do you…do you feel alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Neji blushed hard as his stomach rumbled. "Eek! Sorry!"

Itachi just laughed. "Come on, up you get…I'll make something for y-"

"Oh no you're not!" Neji hoisted himself off the couch and was pleased that he could stand without feeling dizzy. "I'm cooking for you. You're the guest for fey's sake."

"Alright." Neji began bustling around the kitchen to make dinner when Itachi finally asked him the dreaded question.

"So…what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Neji looked over his shoulder at him innocently.

"Well, this morning you sort of passed out in your room and I just brought you down here, and I was wondering as to the reason…?"

"Well…it was like a experiencing all of the memories that Ten-Ten, Hinata, and Sakura have of the castle."

"Then you know," Itachi said matter-of-factly.

Neji was taken aback by his sudden urge of longing. _Just say it once. Once for me. _"Know what, Itachi?"

"We're engaged." Itachi said it flatly, and Neji couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from lifting upwards.

Now, he turned around and gasped in surprise when he almost bumped in to Itachi. _I didn't hear him move at all._

Itachi didn't even give him a chance to respond before crashing their lips together in a desperate kiss.

Neji kissed him back fervently, freeing himself from the last of his uncertainties. The kiss developed in to something softer, and eventually tapered out.

"Itachi…" Neji breathed out.

"Mine," he said breathlessly, pushing Neji's hair behind his ears. "You're mine, and only mine. Understand?"

"Possessive much?" Neji raised an eyebrow, but smiled up at Itachi. "I'm all yours Itachi."

Itachi grinned down at him. "So…you're not mad?"

"No, not really. I mean, if anyone had tried to explain this to me beforehand, I wouldn't have believed them at all."

"You're not the slightest bit confused, though?"

"Of course I am! Itachi…Now I have a father, a cousin, I come from royal family, and…" Neji's face darkened.

"Ah…they showed you the curse, hm?"

"Yeah."

Itachi held Neji comfortingly. "I'll protect you. Danzou won't be able to touch you with all of us there."

Neji smiled up at him, comforted. "…I'm honored."

"By what?"

"That I was able to meet you," Neji said, blushing.

"Neji, you're being awfully mushy."

"It's true though!" Neji stared up at him with teasing eyes. "I mean, if you don't appreciate yourself, then _someone_ has to, right?"

"That's a nice thought." Itachi vaguely wondered if Neji knew how much that meant to him. "I guess I'll have to treasure you too."

Neji just smiled at him, already accepting everything that he knew to be fate.

a/n: review please!


	5. Chapter 5

a/n: Hi! Sorry, I would have updated sooner but I've had some family over and things have been real busy. This is a short chappie…disclaimer on my profile.

Chapter 5

_Three days later…_

Neji blinked up at Itachi tiredly, gratefully accepting the mug of coffee that he offered him.

"We have to leave to-"

"I know! What else do you think I was doing last night?"

"…I don't know."

"Do you know how many f***ing traps are around here?" Neji asked blearily. "Too many, that's for sure."

"Then how did I get in here?"

"You were with me. That was more than enough to allow you inside the boundaries."

"I see." Itachi ran a soothing hand through Neji's hair. "Well, we have to set off soon if we're going to make it to the capitol in time, so you still need to pack up…"

Neji downed the rest of his coffee in one gulp. "I did that last night too."

"Then we should leave."

"If my aunts don't show up by noon, then we'll go." Neji yawned expansively. "Trust me, they're late to everything."

"They also said that we should go if they didn't show up."

"It'll be no good if I can't even see straight."

"I could carry you." Neji looked up in time to catch Itachi's sly smirk.

"Bastard," he muttered under his breath. Nonetheless, his head fell on to Itachi's shoulder with a muffled _flump_.

"Please let me sleep. We'll go if they come later."

"…Fine."

Neji was already asleep.

Itachi muttered something under his breath before scooping Neji up and placing him on the couch.

After all, he had his own preparations to get to.

The hours seemed to fly by as Itachi ran around the house, ensuring that he had everything he needed and that Neji had everything that he would need. Finally, noon came around, Neji's hair was brushed and tied back, Itachi had found his boots, and they were all set to go.

Neji had just placed his hand on the doorknob when the door flew open to reveal the disheveled looking trio of fairies on their doorstep.

"Oh thank goodness you're all alright. It took us a while to finish off those bastards what with their…" Ten-Ten continued to rant even as she stepped inside the house and toed of her shoes alongside her friends.

"Well, you two head along now. We'll be along in an hour or so," Hinata said, flapping her hands at them. "After all, it wouldn't do if we were late to our own party, would it?"

Itachi rolled his eyes and dragged Neji out the door.

A few hours after they'd settled down on the train bound for the capital (it was several hours journey to the capitol), Itachi asked Neji if he was ready.

"Ready for what?"

"For everything," Itachi said simply. "Things'll be fast paced for a while."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's see…well, you'll be meeting everyone over the course of a week, and then we'll be getting married-"

"We _what_?"

"Well, we _are_ engaged."

"I just wasn't expecting to get _married_ in a week."

"Well, now you know. Anyways, you also have to meet all of your family and mine, as well as get yourself established in our hierarchy. So," Itachi continued, "Are you prepared?"

"No," Neji said flatly. "But I do hope that you'll be there to help me assimilate myself."

"Of course I will. Considering that we'll be married, and that I love you."

Neji smiled slightly. "Hm." There was a slight pause, and then "I love you too."

Itachi smiled, and pulled Neji closer in to his arms. Neji, still tired from working for such long hours the previous night, gave in to the security of Itachi's presence, and fell in to a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, a golden bird wheeled over a small cottage in the forest, it's blue eyes committing the sight to memory. It had seen a young boy matching Danzou's description leave the house along with Prince Itachi.

He would not be so lucky when he came back. The golden bird took off for Danzou's ark, just as three fairies slipped out of the cottage.

The one with purple hair shivered slightly. "Did you feel that?"

Ten-Ten paused, her hand on the door. "Feel what?"

Sakura chimed in. "That feeling of being…watched."

Ten-Ten frowned. "It was probably just the forest animals…however, we must proceed with caution now. Neji is in the open…if we can just keep him safe until next week, all will be well."

Hinata frowned. "I-I…I hope so."

Ten-Ten chided her gently. "Don't be so negative! All of our plans will come to pass, Hina. Now, who's up for a stretching of our wings?"

Sakura ruffled her own pink butterfly wings behind her back. "To the skies! It's been such a long time since I last flew…" The three took off, laughing merrily as they spiraled up towards the darkening sky.

XXX

Danzou sat idly on his throne when a golden raven zoomed through the entrance and perched on his outstretched hand.

"Any news, Deidara?"

The raven croaked out something, and Danzou was on his feet in a flash. "Servants! SERVANTS!" He bellowed.

Two trembling servants skidded to a stop in front of the throne. "D-Danzou-sama!"

"Fetch me ANBU members Aka, Sakana, and Tobi."

"Hai!" they ran out of the room while Danzou paced furiously, his mind working quickly. The three ANBU members appeared before him, unmasked. A fiery shock of hair flopped over the right-most's eyes, the middle one bared his oddly shark-like teeth and pushed his own white hair away, and the third one kept looking around like a hyper-active mouse through the singular eyehole in his orange, spiraling mask.

"What is your will?" The youth with teal eyes and fiery red hair reached up and rubbed the tattoo on his forehead self-consciously. It was a curse mark Danzou had placed upon him reading "love"; his curse was that he would never be able to love another being for the rest of his life. Only his soul mate could break the curse.

"Deidara has sighted Hyuga Neji in the forest. Gather Sai and the other ANBU members from the forest. Deidara said there is a small cottage where the boy has been living in; I will have a map drawn for the three of you. Check there, and then find out where he has gone. If you find me, alert me at once and bring him to me alive. Kill anyone that gets in your way."

"Hai, Danzou-sama." The three ANBU members vanished from sight.

Danzou rubbed his hands together. "At last Deidara…at last, the crown will be mine!"

Deidara pecked his hand affectionately and Danzou cursed. "Damn bird…"

Deidara flew away croaking out something that sounded remarkably like hoarse laughter.

Now go! R/R please!s


	6. Chapter 6

**a/n**: I APOLOGIZE FOR LACK OF UPDATING AND FOR THE EXTREMELY SHORT LAST CHAPTER!*sniffle* so…instead, I'm updating with two chapters….

Disclaimer on my profile.

Warnings: some itaneji snuggling and kissing, fluffiness and Gai's eyebrows Also, this is where the AU gets kind of confusing…basically, it's like a mix of medieval and modern times. All the monarchy and castle stuff mixed in with technology and modern society sort of…it's hard to explain.

Chapter 6

"Neji? Neji."

"Mmmh…" Neji shifted his head slightly. "I'm sleeping."

"Yes, little bird, I can see that." Neji smiled at the laughter in Itachi's voice. "Right now, you need to get up though."

Neji nuzzled Itachi's chest. "Do I _really_ have to, 'Tachi?"

"Well, if you _really_ want to miss seeing the capitol city, then you can stay asleep."

Neji sat bolt upright and Itachi smirked. "We're here?"

"Yes," Itachi stroked Neji's hair affectionately. "Look your fill; you'll be living here from now on."

Neji gazed out the train window as the passed through the city. "W-wow…" the capitol city was nothing like the little village that his aunts had visited from time to time; everything was grander, brighter, more colorful…

"What do you think so far?"

Neji continued looking out the window with wide eyes. "Th-there are so many people," he breathed. "It looks kind of scary."

Itachi smiled down at him. "Don't worry, I'll be right beside you the whole time."

Neji smiled gratefully up at him and squeezed his hand. "Thanks."

Itachi simply nuzzled Neji's hair protectively. "I'd never leave you alone."

Neji went bright red. "'Tachi, people are staring."

"So?"

Neji gave up and resumed staring out the window. The train pulled in to the central station, and Neji grabbed Itachi's hand tightly as they fought their way through the crowds and out to the street.

It was evening when they arrived, and Neji blinked, startled by the lights that lit up every building around. "Amazing…"

"This station is in the middle of the shopping district." Itachi hailed a cab without letting Neji's hand go. "We, on the other hand, are going to the palace." He dragged Neji in to the cab with him and paid the driver. "The Royal Palace if you please."

"That'll be twenty-five dollars."

"_Twenty five dollars_?" Itachi repeated. "There's no way I'm paying you twenty five dollars for a two minute ride to the palace."

"If it's urgent, you'll pay," the cab driver said smugly. "After all, there's night-time traffic I have to deal with to get you and your girlfriend to the palace tonight."

Neji raised an eyebrow. He supposed that his long hair might make him look somewhat like a girl.

Itachi and the cab driver were still haggling. "Ten dollars. That's my final offer."

"Ten dollars! I've-"

"Oh for feys sake, just shut up and drive will you? And I'm a boy," Neji said crossly.

Itachi and the cab driver stared at Neji, seemingly having forgotten that Neji was in the car to begin with.

The cab driver sighed, started up the cab and started weaving through the night traffic. "That's for you, pretty boy, not your stingy boyfriend."

Neji smiled at him. "Thank you."

The driver almost crashed in to an oncoming bus from the dazzling beauty of the smile. _Why are all the cute ones already taken?_ He mourned to himself.

When the cab pulled up in front of the palace, Neji smiled another dazzling smile at the driver and handed him a wad of bills. "Thank you." He got out of the car with Itachi.

"Pleasure," the cab driver mumbled. He thumbed through the bills and realized, to his own mortification, that the boy with the lavender eyes had handed him a wad of ten ones. Looking back, he saw the two holding hands, looking back at him and laughing.

"Damn bastards," he muttered, and put the car in reverse. On the road though, he couldn't help but smile.

Damn, those boys had been beautiful.

XXX

Itachi snickered when they saw the cab driver look back at them with a dumbfounded expression. "Good one, Neji."

"You're not the only one with a sense of humor," Neji shot back, but laughed with him. Together, they turned around and headed for the palace.

Itachi started explaining the layout of the palace to him as they mounted the 99 marble steps leading to the grand double doors.

"Inside the palace, once we pass through those doors, we'll be in the Grand Hall. There are a bunch of rooms and corridors branching off of the hall that lead to meeting rooms and the like; then, there's one hall that branches off right before the Court Room where the king presides over the court every day. That hall leads to the noble living quarters and has two guards stationed at the entrance.

"Will they let me through? I thought we weren't telling anyone I arrived until-" Neji paused and swallowed hard.

Itachi squeezed his hand comfortingly; they were halfway up the steps. "Until you meet you father," he finished softly. "Yes, that's right, but they'll listen to me because I'm a prince and they'll let you through."

"Ok," Neji said softly, and mentally groaned at how much farther they had to go.

"After we go through there, I'm taking you to my rooms where you'll wait until it's time to meet your father. Our aunts should be waiting for us when we get there."

Neji nodded, unquestioning of how they had arrived long before them. His aunts were fairies after all; magic was a given.

"Then, you'll meet your father and he'll drag you off somewhere to get to know you. We won't see each other until the next morning where we present you to the court and you meet all of the noble families, who you already know but don't know you yet so just bear with them ok?"

Both boys heaved sighs of relief; they'd finally reached the top of the grand staircase. The guards at the doors seemed to recognize Itachi, and rushed to open the double doors for him.

"Ah, it's alright," he quickly held out a hand to stop them. "We'll go through the normal way, thanks for the effort."

The guards returned to their original posts, but eyed Neji suspiciously. "Who's she?" A guard with a mask that covered most of his face asked interestedly.

Neji rolled his eyes mentally. How many more times was he going to be mistaken for a girl? "I'm a guy," he said shortly.

The guard went red, and the other fellows laughed at him teasingly. "M-my apologies sir."

Neji waved a hand at him. "It's an easy mistake to make. No worries."

Itachi smiled; Neji was already getting along well with everyone. "He's a friend, Kakashi."

"A friend, ey?" Kakashi wiggled his eyebrows suggestively while Neji went red.

Another man burst out of the shadows. "OH MY PRINCE, I'M SO GLAD THAT YOU'VE FOUND THE YOUTHFUL LOVE IN YOUR-"

"Gai. Shut up," Itachi hissed, annoyed. "Let's go, Neji."

"H-hai." Neji followed Itachi and waved at the guards as they entered through a regular-sized door.

They waved back and resumed their positions at the doors, smiling and joking around.

"Wh-who was the guy who appeared out of nowhere screaming something about youth?" Neji asked, still a bit shell-shocked from the size of said person's eyebrows.

"That was Might Gai," Itachi said. "He's enthusiastic about a lot of things."

"I could see that," Neji said, raising an eyebrow. They both laughed, but quieted as they passed through the foyer and entered the Grand Hall.

**a/n**: I'm having trouble splitting the story in to chapters at this part… I tried my best. Review please!


	7. Chapter 7

**a/n:** Here's the second chapter…I know the transition was a bit odd, but I tried.

Disclaimer on my profile.

Warnings: Over-protective aunts and more kissing. That's about it.

Chapter 7

Neji looked around with wide eyes. The Grand Hall was indeed, rather grand; a plush red carpet ran down all the way to the far end, doors lined the sides, and pillars covered in elegant carvings held the far-away roof up.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Itachi looked around appreciatively.

"I-I was thinking something more along the lines of 'grandiose'," Neji said shakily. "You _live_ here?"

Itachi smiled at him. "It takes some getting used to at first. After all, you're a prince and you'll be living in a palace now, Neji."

"Right." Neji still couldn't help but be awed by his magnificent surroundings. They made surprisingly quick time down the hall to the corridor that Itachi had mentioned beforehand.

Neji smiled. "I imagine that the royal court must be very fit, considering how far they have to go to get through the front door and go to their rooms," he teased.

"Oh yes," Itachi smiled down at him. "Everyone from the noble families at court receive formal ninja training."

Neji smiled slightly, suddenly grateful for his aunt's rigorous training regimen they'd put him through. At least he would have something in common with the other children.

When they finally reached the end of the hall, two guards were stationed in front of the narrow hallway branching off to the noble apartments. They bowed deeply when they saw Itachi.

"Bringing in a friend, Itachi-sama?"

"Yes," Itachi answered shortly. Neji was slightly taken aback by the iciness in his tone, but chose to ignore the issue for the time being as they slipped between the guards.

"I'm not too sure where you'll be staying, so you can just stay with me until the aunts come get you." Itachi reached for Neji's hand as he led him through the noble apartments.

Neji looked around curiously; some doors had plaques on them, some didn't. "Where is everyone?"

Itachi frowned. "Hm…you know what, I'm not sure. Maybe today's a festival day, or they all went out somewhere."

"Wouldn't people notice if they _all_ went somewhere?"

"Well, we get along alright and as long as we don't wreck any shops, no one really complains," Itachi said absently. Neji bumped in to him when Itachi suddenly stopped in front of one of the doors.

"Ooph."

"Sorry!" Itachi yelped, and reached back for Neji who was rubbing his face while glaring reproachfully. "Thankfully, I don't have to share a room with Sasuke when I come here," he muttered under his breath.

"Sasuke…that's your little brother, right?" Neji asked as they passed through the door.

"That's right. He's a brat, but I love him," Itachi said affectionately. "We're around here so often that we just have our own apartments."

"Hm." Neji peered around Itachi's shoulder and nearly gasped again. "I-it's like a house! There are so many rooms…" he squeaked.

Itachi chuckled. "Yes. Since you're the prince of the kingdom, your apartment will probably be a lot nicer than mine."

Neji flushed. "I didn't think you actually meant _apartment_ when you said…well, when you said apartment. And I like yours; it's nice and cozy." Neji looked around at the tastefully decorated hallway that led to down to what appeared to be a kitchen adjoined to Itachi's living room. Next to the kitchen entrance was a spiral staircase that lead up to what appeared to be more rooms.

Itachi laughed again. "You're adorable, you know that?"

Neji scowled, but the effect was dampened by the blush on his face. He leaned down and slipped his shoes off. "I'm not cute," he muttered.

Itachi shook his head, but headed down the hall to the kitchen. "Are you hungry? You haven't eaten anything since we left the cottage."

"Um…yes, actually." Neji followed Itachi in to the kitchen. "You can cook?"

"I never said I could," Itachi grinned at him, and opened the refrigerator. "I have some leftovers if you want…"

Neji stared, horrified at Itachi's refrigerator. "You have…next to nothing in there."

Itachi smiled and ruffled Neji's hair. "Close your mouth; you might unintentionally eat a fly. I'm gone a lot, so there's no point in keeping it stocked up."

Neji felt a slight sinking feeling in his stomach; if Itachi was gone most of the time before, did that mean that he would be gone most of the time after they got married too? "Oh," was all he said. "What leftovers do you have?"

Itachi frowned; he'd seen the worry flit through Neji's eyes before he changed the subject. If Neji wasn't going to talk about it now, then Itachi wouldn't force it from him.

He reached in to the refrigerator and pulled out a plastic container with some lasagna in it. "Eat," he said firmly while scooping some out and putting it on a plate and putting it in to the microwave. "You don't want to meet your family on an empty stomach."

Neji smiled, flustered by the sudden reminder. "Y-yeah. U-um…didn't you say that Ten-Ten, Hinata and Sakura would already be here when we got here?"

"Yes, I thought so. Perhaps they had a few things to take care of before coming to get you," Itachi said frowning. "Maybe they don't know we're here yet either."

The microwave beeped, and Itachi took Neji's food out and guided him towards the table.

Neji frowned. "Maybe," he said halfheartedly. He started eating his lasagna. "So you said that after the aunts come and get me, we won't see each other until tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Itachi leaned back in his chair. "I've been away for a while so I have a few things that I need to catch up on, so I'll have to leave you on your own for most of tomorrow. You'll do fine though," he added quickly, seeing Neji's despondent look. "You seem to get along with everyone alright."

"Hm." Neji sighed inwardly; he'd hoped that Itachi would be around for the first day of his arrival.

The two sat in silence for a while, each man stewing in their own thoughts when a series of knocks sounded through the door.

Itachi got up. "I'll get it," he told Neji. "You finish eating."

Neji showed Itachi his empty plate.

"Oh, just put it in the sink," Itachi called over his shoulder. "I'll get it in a second." He opened the door to reveal his three fairy aunts.

"Itachi-kun!" Hinata chirped. "Is Neji with you?"

"Yes, he's in the kitchen," Itachi said as he stepped to the side, allowing the fairies to pass through. "Are you here to take him to his father?"

"Yes, but not right now. We've been dealing with some security measures for the next week, sorry we're late," Sakura said.

Neji stepped out in to the hall. "Itachi, who-" he paused when he saw his three fairy aunts, blinking in surprise.

They were on him in seconds, and he nearly fell over from the impact of the hugs they gave him. "Oh Neji, we're so glad you're alright! How was the trip? Was Itachi-kun horrible? Oh _darling_…" Neji looked at Itachi helplessly and attempted to sooth his aunts. When they finally released him, they all had rather business-like expressions.

"Now that we've got you, we're going to go take you to meet your family. Now, tomorrow, we'll be presenting you to the other families and you'll be spending the day with them. You two probably won't be seeing each other until the day after tomorrow, but we'll see what we can do. Now, we need to go, Neji." Sakura caught the look that Neji and Itachi shared and added hastily, "but we'll be waiting outside; go on and get your coat before you go." She dragged the other fairies out the door with her while Neji disappeared to get his coat.

Neji came back in to the hall with his jacket back on and reached for his shoes. Itachi stopped him with a hand, and pulled him back up in to his arms. He leaned down and cupped Neji's face in his hands.

"A day isn't so long is it?" Itachi murmured.

Neji refrained from rolling his eyes; it was only a _day_ after all, and they would see each other in the morning anyways. "No, it's not," Neji murmured.

"Don't go getting in to fights now, hm?" Itachi smoothed his thumb down the side of Neji's face.

"Yes, Itachi." Neji nuzzled Itachi's hand slightly.

Itachi leaned in and gave Neji a soft kiss.

"They'll be waiting for me," Neji murmured against Itachi's lips. "I should go."

Itachi didn't let go of Neji's waist. Instead, he started kissing Neji again. Neji let out a gasp of laughter before kissing him back.

They broke apart when Sakura rapped on the door. "Getting your coat shouldn't be taking that long," she chided gently from outside the door.

"Coming!" Neji called, and hurriedly slipped his shoes on. He reached and sweetly kissed Itachi on the cheek before walking out the door.

Itachi gently brushed the place where Neji's lips had landed and stared blankly at the door for a moment before heading upstairs to his bedroom.

After all, he had a mission report to write.

**a/n:** Review please! Thanks for reading this I'm working on making the chapters a bit longer.


	8. Chapter 8

**a/n: **Sorry, updating has been a bit odd hasn't it? Anyways, here's chapter 8…

Disclaimer on my profile…Warnings: Um…the usual. If you don't like boy x boy and fluff, I honestly have no idea why you're here. Also, slight family switcheroo.

Chapter 8

Neji followed his aunts down the hall, carefully noting where they were going so that he would be able to go back to Itachi's apartment if he ever felt like it.

"Neji…Neji!" Ten-Ten waved a hand in front of his face. He realized that while he'd been thinking about Itachi, they'd arrive at someone else's apartment…he looked at the nameplate and raised an eyebrow when he saw his own name printed on the plaque.

"Y-Yes, this is w-where you'll be staying for now," Hinata commented, and pushed open the door. "Come on…your f-father is w-waiting for you."

Neji swallowed hard, and after a moment of hesitation, followed the fairies in to the hallway. He took of his shoes, and was startled to see that his apartment was already decorated in his favorite colors (green and blue) and that everything was already in place for him to begin his new life at the palace.

"You'll have to go grocery shopping," Ten-Ten said over her shoulder, "but we did our best to make this place feel like home to you."

Neji smiled slightly; so that's why it had felt so familiar…the fairies had decorated his apartment so that it was almost exactly like the cottage that he'd lived in for the last fifteen years of his life.

He stepped in to the main room, and looked curiously at the man sitting in a comfortable chair in front of a flickering fire. So this man was his father? He supposed that he looked quite a bit like his father, but some things were different too…for example, the shade of their eyes wasn't quite the same (Neji's had a darker purple tint to them than King Hizashi's), and Neji most certainly didn't have his father's hawk-like nose.

Father and son stared at each other in silence for a full five minutes before Hizashi finally stood up and moved toward his son with open arms.

"Welcome home my son," he said with a soft smile.

Neji blinked, and then suddenly threw himself in to his father's arms. "I'm back, father!" he sobbed. "I'm home!"

The three fairies smiled gently at the reunion of the father and son from the kitchen doorway. Finally, things seemed like they just might turn out alright.

XXX

Neji was glowing with happiness; after he'd hugged his father for what seemed like forever, he'd been delighted to meet his cousin (also called Hinata; apparently she'd been named after the sweet, stuttering fairy) and his uncle. He'd also met his sister Hanabi who had been a bit much to take in with her somewhat abrasive temperament, but he'd gotten used to it after the first few minutes.

He bowed to his sister mischievously. "My princess," he teased her.

She laughed at him. "Oh my darling brother." She stopped laughing for a moment and eyed him seriously. "I know that we just met and everything, but I think I'm going to enjoy having a brother around."

Neji blinked. "Um…"

Hanabi turned around. "Well, this has been a happy family reunion, but it's also two in the morning and, if I recall, we all have to be at nii-chan's formal presentation at eight o'clock, so I'm going to bed." She headed for the door with her cousin in tow. "Good night!"

Hizashi sighed regretfully. "I suppose Hanabi is right. Good night, son."

"Good night, Father." Neji watched his family exit the room.

Finally, the three fairies came out of their hiding spot in the kitchen. "So what do you think of your new family?" Ten-Ten ventured.

"It's a bit odd, but it's a good kind of odd," Neji responded. "Are you staying in here for tonight?"

"Just m-me," Aunt Hinata stuttered. "The other two are going to get your things ready for you tomorrow. I'll show you the rest of your apartment…" Neji said goodnight to his other two aunts before following Hinata as she lead him to the other rooms.

Ten-Ten's face darkened. "Something happened at the cottage just after we left."

Sakura looked grim. "I know; I felt it too. They very nearly found us."

"They'll know he's not there anymore by now," Ten-Ten said, pacing around the living room. "They'll know that he's here by tomorrow night at the latest as well."

"Unless we get rid of his eyes and ears in the court," Sakura said. "But that's next to impossible due to relations with Suna right now-"

"Exactly. There's not much we can do put keep our guard up until Neji's birthday…I just thought I'd let you know what we're up against," Ten-Ten said, stopping in front of the fireplace. "I know Hinata had her doubts, and I told her not to be silly, but still…"

Sakura walked over and gave Ten-Ten a hug. "We all have our doubts," Sakura said softly. "I certainly have doubts about the plan…but I do _not_ have any doubts about your effectiveness in protecting the royal family."

Ten-Ten smiled. "Thanks, Sakura." She gently pulled away. "Well…we'd best start getting ready for tomorrow; we haven't been here for sixteen years, I'm sure our place has gone pieces while we were gone."

"Oh, you know Hiazashi-kun; he's probably kept the place exactly the same since we left it…" Sakura continued to bicker with Ten-Ten as they flew out the door.

_The next morning…_

Neji shifted self-consciously in his formal robes before carefully smoothing down the smooth green silk. The clothes were very pretty, but they were awfully stifling, even with the stiff breeze running through the court room.

Neji covered his mouth with his hand and stifled a yawn; he'd barely gotten three hours of sleep. Aunt Hinata had been so nervous for his presentation that she'd proceeded to wake him up at five o'clock in order to start getting him ready. He really did love his aunt, and he appreciated her explaining to him how exactly to put his robe on, but honestly…fairies didn't really need sleep, but when you've been raising a human boy for the past fifteen years, you'd think they'd have learned by now.

Then, of course, after he'd managed to struggle his way in to the kimono, Aunt Hinata had proceeded to flit about him and adjust various things while muttering herself while he tried not to fall asleep on his feet. (The last time _that_ had happened, he'd been twelve and had narrowly avoided having Sakura put lipstick on his mouth). She'd gone at it for an hour until he'd pointed out that the ceremony started in half an hour, weren't they supposed to be down in the courtroom ten minutes ago? And then she'd had an explosion of hysteria and he'd had to calm her down with copious amounts of instant coffee.

Now, he was sitting on the throne (that had been empty save for the glittering, golden circlet that had occupied it for the past fifteen years. Said circlet was now resting on his head) in a glittering, silken green kimono with a crane pattern on it, and his hair had been twisted in to some odd configuration that defied the laws of both physics and gravity. (The only way Hinata could have squeezed his crown over his head without upsetting his hair was with magic, Neji had decided when he'd seen himself in the mirror.) In less than a minute, all the noble families would file in to the court room and he would be formally presented to his people. Neji resisted the urge to start biting his nails; he really hoped that Itachi wasn't going to be here. He didn't want Itachi to see him with his hair like this.

Neji was drawn out of his thoughts by his father shoving the doors open and striding up towards his throne.

Neji shot a look at Hanabi who shrugged. Sighing, he stood up to greet his father, who clapped on him on the back in turn. Neji sighed as his father stared at his hair wonderingly.

"Have you ever cut it once in the last fifteen years? Hinata tells me you have so much hair that you didn't even need the headdress that _should've_ formed the shape that your hair is in right now."

Neji blinked. "…Just once. Seven years ago."

Hizashi's lips twitched, but he let it go. "Just stand and nod at each family after they're introduced. Hanabi will signal you whenever you need to do something (he winked at his daughter). Also, Hanabi will take you to another room to change after you've been presented while I give a speech."

"Okay." Neji opened his mouth to ask another question, but Hanabi abruptly shoved her father towards the throne and shoved Neji in to his seat.

_Is that what he meant by 'Hanabi will signal you'?_ Neji wondered. He barely had any time to shoot her a look of gratitude, amusement, and annoyance before a crowd of people flooded through the doors.

Neji felt nauseated as he stared at the quickly forming ranks of family members, but when Hanabi discreetly stepped on his foot he stood up (with what he hoped was a regal sort of grace) and the crowd went silent.

Hizashi stepped down the throne dais and began to address the crowd.

"We are all here today," he began, "for the formal presentation of my eldest son to the court."

The murmurs began again, but Hizashi continued on. "We are also here to welcome him home from the fifteen-year-long journey that has kept him from home." He surveyed the crowd solemnly, and then turned and waved an arm at Neji, who had been standing quietly surveying the crowd.

"My people, I present to you brother to the heir of the throne, Princess Hanabi, and my own son, Hyuga Neji."

Neji resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably when the entire attention of the room shifted over to him. Instead, he smiled quietly before not-quite suppressing a violent blush that slid over his face when everyone bowed.

Hizashi nodded discreetly to Hanabi, who, with a soft rustle of her own crimson kimono, stood up and glided towards Neji.

He cleared his throat, and all eyes slid to him once again. "Aburame, Akamichi, Haruno, Nara…" Hizashi started reciting a list of names. Neji's heart nearly stopped, and his eyes slid towards the back of the room.

Itachi was there with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He winked at Neji before returning his attention to King Hizashi who was still droning on about the history of the kingdom and the noble families.

Neji was still staring at Itachi when Hanabi nudged him in the ribs. He bowed in unison with her, before allowing her to lead him out of the court room and in to a side chamber where he was relieved to see a pair of comfy jeans, a black button-up shirt, and a folding screen. He kicked off his sandals and socks before darting behind the folding screen to change in to his clothes.

Hanabi giggled. "Don't worry, you won't have to wear that robe often."

"I'm relieved," Neji said, his voice slightly muffled by the screen. "It's so stuffy in those robes."

Hanabi smiled slightly. "You were rather impressive in there."

"Was I? I honestly don't remember that much of it." Neji came out from behind the screen with his kimono, obi, and various layers of robes draped over his arms. "I just sort of stood there and smiled."

"You looked very serene," Hanabi promised him. "You also looked quite dazzling; your fiancé (her eyes twinkled mischievously; she really did enjoy fomenting court romances) looked quite taken with you. He didn't take his eyes off you for the first five minutes."

"I can't imagine _anyone _being charmed by my looks with my hair like this," Neji mourned as he started to tease his hair out of its unnatural form. "It looks like there's a tree growing on top of my head. In fact, it took me twenty minutes to convince aunt Hinata not to give me the girl's ceremonial hair style. They enjoy dressing me up in girl's clothes far too much."

Hanabi surveyed him for a moment. "Well, you _would_ look good in them."

"Yes, well," Neji admitted, "I'm not a girl and I don't want to come off as extremely odd at first glance." Neji made a triumphant sound as his hair fell out of its styling and down his shoulders in soft, dark curls.

Hanabi observed him, mildly envious. "You should keep it like that. All the girls will love you."

"That Uzumaki boy looked rather mischievous," Neji said absently. "I'm not going to leave it down for him to pull on all the time."

Hanabi chuckled. "One glare from Itachi-kun would fix that."

Neji smiled slightly. "…Maybe I'll leave it down then."

Hanabi smirked. There was definitely something already going on between the two of them._i_

_**tbc…**_

_i: _Hanabi doesn't know that Neji and Itachi's relationship has progressed to the public snogging stage (aka. Kissing on the train lol)

**a/n:** The chapters keep getting longer and longer…this one seems to be quite a bit longer than any of the old ones isn't it? Anyways, we're almost to the day of Neji's sixteenth birthday where the story will actually kind of have a plot…R/R please! I eat reviews for snacks And the reason there are two Hinatas is because there really aren't enough female characters in Naruto, nor in my story *sigh*. They're differentiated from cousin and Aunt because from now on, I'll refer to the fairy as "Aunt Hinata".


	9. Chapter 9

**a/n:** Here's chapter nine!

Disclaimer on my profile.

Warnings: The same as all the other chapters. Slight mentions of cross-dressing.

This is mostly a filler chapter; it's SUPER short, but after this we get to the battle scenes and stuff which I will do my best to write! Updating also might be a tidge slower because a ton of stuff is happening right now.

Chapter 9

Neji strolled in to the other room where the noble children had gathered and stood discretely in the shadows.

All of the children were gathered around the Uzumaki boy (_Naruto, was it__ii__?_ Neji wondered) who was relating some event while gesturing wildly.

Neji flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder, only to turn around and smile up at Itachi who was regarding him with amused eyes.

Itachi trailed his fingers through Neji's soft hair, and watched in amusement as his younger brother started an insult contest with Naruto. "You were magnificent."

"Was I really?" Neji looked up at Itachi's dark eyes suspiciously. "My hair was _awful_. It was like a giant tree was growing out of my head."

"You were perfect. You looked gorgeous (Neji turned pink), and that smile you gave us was wonderful. Everyone loved you. Now," he continued, and let go of Neji's hair, "go on and meet them. I have to go now."

"Oh," Neji said, a wave nervousness washing over him. "O-ok." He reached up and gave Itachi a sweet kiss before watching him leave the room in a swirl of clothing. Swallowing nervously, he walked over to the group of teenagers and tentatively stood next to Hinata.

He grinned when Naruto finally lost the contest and proceeded to shout and gesticulate wildly until he paused for a moment and frowned.

"Where's Neji, dattebayo? Shouldn't he have been here a while ago?"

Neji coughed to hide a laugh, but instantly regretted it when all eyes turned on him. He resisted the urge to hide behind Hinata and smiled nervously. "Hello."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the shy prince. "…Are you _sure_ you're Hanabi's older brother?" Neji flushed and stared at the ground feeling rather small under the younger Uchiha's disbelieving gaze.

Hanabi came to his rescue and swooped in over Sasuke's shoulder. "And what is _that_ supposed to mean, Sasuke-kun?" she said sweetly. "After all, are you sure you're Itachi's younger brother?"

Neji sighed, and left the two to bicker while he got acquainted with everyone's names. To his surprise, he met two girls named Sakura and Ten-Ten who had also been named after his aunts, along with Hinata.

"Don't mind Sasuke-teme. He's just a jerk," Naruto confided to Neji. "You get used to it after a while."

Neji blinked. "Ok."

"Ya know, you're not really who I thought you'd be," Naruto continued. "I thought you'd be a bit more like Hanabi, but instead you're all shy and nice and quiet-"

"I can be nice when I want to," Hanabi muttered.

Naruto continued on as if he hadn't heard her. "but to be honest…you're kinda girly."

Neji was saved yet again from responding by Sakura, who hit Naruto upside the head. "He's not girly just because he has long hair, Naruto!"

"Owch! Sakura-chan, that hurt!"

"Well, you deserved it…"

A blond girl with a purple dress cut across them. "Today's the sakura-viewing festival. Are you coming with us, Neji-kun?"

Neji blinked at Ino's familiarity. "The sakura-viewing festival?"

Ino gasped in surprise. "You don't know what the sakura viewing festival is? It's one of the biggest festivals in the whole country!" she continued rattling off information even though no one appeared to be listening.

"Troublesome," a boy with an odd ponytail slouched over. "I'm Shikamaru Nara. Ino's crazy about flowers and all. Ino," he turned towards the other girl. "Don't make him feel embarrassed."

Neji flushed while Ino pouted. "I wasn't! I was just surprised is all. He should have heard of it, no matter where he was living."

"I've lived my whole life in an enchanted forest," Neji said calmly. "It's alright; I don't know very much at all. Please treat me kindly," he said bowing.

Everyone stared at him.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed again. Neji noted his similarity to the stag that had been his friend in the forest. Lazy, but kind and caring. "Enough with the formalities. We've all been growing up together; don't feel left out. We're happy to have you around."

"Thanks," Neji smiled sweetly.

_He's so cute…_everyone sweat-dropped nervously. Well, everyone except for Naruto who seemed to be a bit puzzled about the whole enchanted forest thing.

"Hey, I know!" Ten-Ten said proudly. "Neji, you haven't really seen much of the castle, have you? We'll give you a tour!" she proceeded to glomp on to his arm and lead him from the room. Neji gently plucked her off his sleeve, and quietly melded in to the group while they proceeded to give him a tour of the castle.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow from his place in the center of the group. His brother seemed to have quite a beauty for his bride…he smirked when Naruto reached out to tug Neji's hair.

Everyone stopped dead, and cold seeped in to their bones from the chilling presence that had seemingly come from nowhere.

Everyone slowly turned towards the center of the group, and looked surprised, and then a little frightened to see Itachi glaring murderously at Naruto who was frozen mid-tug.

Itachi reached out and delicately removed Naruto's shaking hand from Neji's long brown tresses. With a final glare, he vanished in a poof of smoke.

Everyone sighed in relief once he was gone.

"Where did he even come from, 'tebayo?" Naruto stared around himself in bewilderment while Hanabi wiggled her eyebrows at Neji.

Sasuke smirked. "Loser."

"I'm not a loser!" Naruto flailed madly while Sasuke started laughing.

Itachi really was one possessive bastard.

XXX

_Later that evening…_

Neji sighed in relief once he reached the sanctuary of his own room. Hanging out with the other teenagers had been fun, but it had been awfully tiring and his nerves were frayed to pieces; especially since Sasuke had been staring at him all day with this odd expression on his face and Neji _still_ wasn't sure why.

Neji sighed again and toed off his shoes before heading down the hall. He was expected for a formal dinner tonight, so thankfully he didn't have to go buy groceries quite yet, but then again…it was a _formal dinner_. He was probably going to have to stand next to his father and talk to all those people again…Neji shuddered. He was personal contact, one-to one conversation, and even small groups, but if he got stuck talking to more than eight people at once he just curled up in a ball and hid. At least, in his mind he did.

He blinked in surprise when he headed up to his room and found clothes already laying on his bed. Smiling, he reached out and picked up the note laying on top of them.

_Neji-kun: Here are the clothes for tonight's dinners. Your father's orders; we didn't think you'd quite know what to wear for a 'formal dinner'._

_-Your loving Aunts, Hinata, Ten-Ten, and Sakura-_

_P.S. When we say formal dinner around here, what we really mean is just 'dinner'. Don't be too surprised!_

Neji smiled softly and pressed the note to his lips. Finally, contact from someone who was older than him and not a complete stranger! (Granted, the other teenagers weren't exactly complete strangers because he had memories of them growing up, but still. They were strangers.)

He looked down at the clothes on his bed and he nearly cried from relief. They were simply dress slacks (although they did look _oddly _feminine) and a classy navy-blue button up. It wasn't some awful, smothering torture device! Neji nearly danced for joy. Thank goodness; he didn't know what he would've done if it had actually been a truly formal affair.

He glanced at the clock and slipped in to the new clothes; he still had half an hour before he had to head down to dinner (Hanabi had said that someone would stop by and get him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye; Neji had wondered at it, but then left it be.) He chose to spend his time by exploring his new wardrobe.

He opened his closet doors and nearly gasped in surprise before cautiously fingering one of the shirts hanging within.

Hinata had told him that he would get a lot of new things of high quality once he arrived at the palace, but this was incredible! He scowled when he noticed that his devious aunts had still managed to tuck a couple of dresses near the back where they thought he wouldn't see them; he would have to remember to give them to his cousin later. (They looked to be a bit too large to fit Hanabi.)

He turned his attention back to the items that he would actually where. The cloth was expensive but durable, and everything looked well-made and comfortable…Neji buried his face in one of the shirts and sighed happily.

Still smiling, he headed downstairs and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen before sitting down at his kitchen table. He had to make a list of what he wanted to buy, and it would probably take a couple of trips in order to get everything he needed…he sat down at the table and got to work.

He was so engrossed in wandering around and seeing what necessities he would require that he didn't hear the person knocking at his door the first time. He gasped in surprise, and quickly put the pen and paper down before running for the hall. He pulled on his shoes and quickly threw open the door to the sight of…

Neji gasped in surprise yet again.

"Ita…chi…?"

_ii:_ Remember; Neji knows everything about all the other characters because of the memory jutsu that happened earlier in the story!

**a/n:** and the happy couple is reunited at last! (After one day…) anyways, sorry for how nothing really happens in this chapter but we're getting to the main conflict. Really. Promise. Anyways…R/R please! I really appreciate all your input and support :)


	10. Chapter 10

**a/n**: This is chapter ten! We introduce the main conflict and Itachi and Neji work out some issues with each other :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer on my profile.

Warnings: None fort his chapter…fluff, over-protective fathers and no fairies in this chappie.

Chapter 10

Itachi grinned down at him. "Did you miss me?"

Neji responded by flinging himself at Itachi.

Itachi nervously petted Neji's hair. "They weren't that bad…were they?" he ventured. _I didn't think he'd react THIS badly to the others._

"It was _awful_," Neji grumbled in to his shirt. "Sasuke was the worst. He kept looking at me funny, and then denying it whenever I asked him."

Itachi blinked in surprise; _Sasuke_ had taken interest in Neji? Whenever someone new came, he usually just said "Hn" and sort of glared if said person was a girl.

But then again, none of the other newcomers had been going to marry him in a week.

Itachi smiled softly at his little brother's foolishness before gently pushing Neji back. "He's just being an overprotective little brother. Shall we go to dinner?"

Neji looked at him dubiously, but turned back and shut the door. "Did Aunt Hinata send you over?"

"No, actually Hanabi was the one who contacted me and forced me to cancel my appointment with Lady Tsunade, the head of the palace Shinobi force."

"Oh? Did you have to go through a lot of trouble?"

"No, Lady Tsunade was remarkably understanding," Itachi grimaced while offering his arm to Neji.

Neji raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not a girl, Itachi."

"Yes, but I am taking you to dinner as your fiancé," Itachi said calmly. "You didn't have a problem with personal contact before."

Neji folded his arms. "Personal contact is just fine," he shot back, "but you don't have to treat me like I'm a _woman_, Itachi."

"I'm just trying to be polite," Itachi said with a twinkle in his eye. "I wouldn't want to make a bad first impression on your father. He's rather protective of his children. The last time someone tried courting Hanabi, your father scared him off so badly that he left for his home estate and hasn't been back to court since."

Neji bit his lip. He didn't really see his father breaking his six-year long engagement, but if Itachi put it like _that_…

He sighed in defeat and accepted Itachi's offered arm while ignoring the smug expression on his boyfriend's face. "I just don't want you to leave and never come back," he said, not seeming to realize the gravity of his statement.

Itachi smiled and snorted slightly. "I think we're in agreement then."

Neji hummed softly, and suddenly stopped dead.

"What is it, Neji?"

"…My birthday…" Neji said softly, hollowly. "My sixteenth birthday is tomorrow, isn't it?" It was hard to believe how he had lost track of the time. When had a week passed him by?

Itachi stared down at Neji for a moment before collecting himself quickly. _Of course he's scared to pieces. He hasn't had that long to come to terms with his curse after all._

"Yes, your birthday is tomorrow. I imagine the others haven't told you this yet, but the dinner tonight is for discussing our plans for tomorrow."

"Is there anything expected to happen tomorrow?" Neji asked tentatively.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. _Haven't our fairy aunts informed him yet?_ "…Yes. We are expecting Danzou to come knocking on our door tomorrow." He gently tugged on Neji's elbow and began to lead him forward again.

"As I said earlier, this dinner is so that we can all discuss what we will be doing tomorrow. You see, this is the culmination of most of the other's training. That is, protecting you tomorrow. We are expecting Danzou to launch an attack because your curse seal cannot be activated unless it is stimulated, so you most likely will spend tomorrow in hiding while we patrol the area."

"Hm." Neji's mouth thinned and his grip on Itachi's arm tightened slightly. Why had no one else told him of this?

"We thought that you already knew what was going on. I see now that that was a grave misimpression," Itachi squeezed Neji's hand gently.

"Quite. At least I know now," Neji sighed. They had finally reached the room of the dinner, but Neji hesitated before the entrance.

"What is it?"

"Will you…" Neji paused, and then recollected himself. "It's nothing. Let's go."

Itachi scowled; they'd barely known each other for a week, that was true, but they were soul mates. Itachi could feel it…for the first few days, Neji hadn't hidden anything from him.

Barely two days later, Itachi couldn't tell what was going on in Neji's head at all; why was he keeping secrets from him?

He'd have to talk to Neji after dinner. "Let's go." He lead Neji through the door and in to the room full of chattering people.

Hizashi scowled at the couple from his place at one of the tables. "You're late."

Neji released Itachi's elbow and bowed. "It was my fault. I was unaware of the circumstances of the dinner and asked Itachi to explain them to me."

Itachi bowed also. "I apologize. I should have been more aware of the time."

Hizashi eye them both before leveling a protective glare at Itachi. "Well, it's no harm. Next time, be sure to be punctual."

"Yes, father." Neji moved forward to sit in the empty seat next to his sister. Itachi sat across the table from him.

"I told you he was tough," Itachi murmured across the table. "If looks could kill, I would be dead right now."

Neji stifled a laugh.

Hanabi raised an eyebrow at both of them. "Why were you so late?"

"Neji didn't know what the dinner was about tonight and I had to explain it to him." Itachi grinned. "Say, Hanabi-chan; tell Neji about that one boy who your father chased off."

Hanabi smirked. "That one boy…? I'm afraid you're going to have to be a bit more specific than that."

They all laughed then, but quieted down quickly when King Hizashi stood up.

"We are here to eat, as well as to discuss the plans for tomorrow. Everyone is aware of their station and their assignment, but I think it's best to go over everything one more time.

Team A consisting of Sakura, Sai, and Shino will be patrolling the outer edges of the castle under the direction of Lady Kurenai…"

The whole room listened attentively as King Hizashi went over the elaborate security plan.

"…And finally, Prince Itachi will be at the heart of the castle in the saferoom with my son. Neji, you are to follow all of Itachi's orders no matter how terrible they seem."

The mood of the room had gone down considerably, and King Hizashi finally seemed to notice. "Now, now! There's no need to look so down. Thanks to the intel we've collected through all of your hard work Danzou probably won't even make it to the center of the castle. Now, eat up! As you all know…we have a huge day ahead of us tomorrow."

Servers entered the huge room and began to serve the patrons and talk slowly started up between the clinks of silverware and sounds of eating.

Itachi grinned at Neji from across the table. "I'm starting to think of a lot of things I could ask you to do tomorrow…"

Neji kicked him under the table. "Pervert!" he hissed. However, the tension had been broken and Neji started giggling.

Hanabi shook her head. "I wouldn't be so loud if I were you," she murmured shooting a worried look up the table. King Hizashi was looking suspiciously at Itachi and Neji, just as she suspected.

Itachi just smirked and continued calmly eating his food while Neji sipped some water in an attempt to stop his giggling fit.

"So, how come Itachi had to tell you everything before you got here? We all thought that you knew what was going on."

"I had no idea," Neji responded honestly. "I'm not sure as to why I wasn't informed either…oh! Have any of you seen any of our fairy aunts recently? As in, at all after we got here?"

"Now that you mention it…no, no I haven't seen them all day which is a bit unusual," Itachi said thoughtfully.

"They're probably also preparing for tomorrow. Assuming that something happens tomorrow, a lot is riding on their shoulders," Hinata murmured.

The dinner went on for quite a while, and Neji was feeling pleasantly full and a bit sleepy when Hinata popped the big question.

"Oh, Neji nii-san, when did you meet Itachi-kun?"

Hanabi leaned forward with a wicked smirk on her face. "Yes, I'd like to know that too."

Neji shot Itachi an alarmed look, wide awake now. "What brought this on?"

"Well, you two obviously have feelings for each other," Hanabi teased. "We just want to know when it started."

Neji made a face while Itachi struggled not to laugh. "We met a week ago. End of story."

Hanabi sat back feeling cheated. "Are you sure that's it?" she pressed. "You met a week ago…how often did you see him?"

Neji turned pink. "Um…." He shot a glance up the table only to see his father look hurriedly away. "Now's not a good time," he whispered. _Hopefully that'll put them off for a while._

Hanabi looked back up the table and blinked in understanding. "Of course."

"Neji," Itachi interrupted smoothly. "Are you finished eating?"

Neji shot him a grateful look. "Yes, I'm finished. I was just about to excuse myself."

Itachi shot him a look. "I'll walk you back to your room."

"How chivalrous," Neji murmured, slightly miffed. "Well, good night Hanabi, Hinata, Father." He escaped before his father could call them both back.

They walked through the castle in silence until they reached Neji's room. Neji cleared his throat. "Would you like to come in for a bit?"

"Sure." Itachi stepped inside. He certainly had a bone to pick with the pretty Hyuga.

The moment Neji shut the door Itachi began advancing on him. "You're hiding things from me."

Neji's heart skipped a beat. "What?"

Itachi pinned Neji to the door and put his palms next to Neji's face. "You're not telling me something. What is it? Ever since we've arrived, you've been closing yourself off from me."

"I found out that someone is going to try and come here and murder me for the crown tomorrow," Neji shot back. "I didn't-"

"If you feel worried, you tell me. If you feel scared, you tell me. If you need to talk, you have to talk to me." Itachi scolded Neji. "How could you think that I wouldn't want to know what you're feeling? Neji, I love you. You can come to me with whatever baggage you have and I'll take it all."

Neji looked up at him helplessly for a moment before reaching up and wrapping his arms around Itachi's neck.

"I'm sorry," he murmured softly before pressing his lips to Itachi's cheek. "I didn't mean to worry you."

Itachi breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped his arms around Neji's waist. "It's ok," he murmured softly. "It's ok."

Neji lifted his head slightly. "After we get married next week, will you still be gone a lot?"

Itachi stroked Neji's hair. "No. After we get married, I'm leaving my career as a palace ninja and I'm going to rejoin the world of palace politics."

"Everyone said you're one of the best, though."

"Yes, well…it's about time I settled down. Being a ninja allows me to run away from my responsibilities as a member of the noble family. I don't want to leave you lonely and on your own. I need to stop running."

Neji thought about it for a moment before pressing a sweet kiss to Itachi's mouth. "Ok."

Itachi chuckled inspite of himself. "Anything else, Neji?"

Neji shook his head softly. "No, not right now."

The two stood in the hall for a few more minutes before they finally broke apart. "I'm staying for the night." Itachi said abruptly after removing his shoes.

Neji looked at him and smiled a shy, secret smile. "Fine. Let's go get some rest then, shall we?"

The two headed upstairs, and without bothering to change, cuddled together on Neji's bed.

"Sweet dreams, little bird."

Neji was already fast asleep.

Tbc…

And so that was chapter 10! Things are actually going to start moving along now, so yeah….

Also, I've been trying for weekly updates, but since next week updating might be a bit difficult (I'll try and squeeze one in) I got this one in today.

Do you all think that I should update more often? It's certainly possible; the next few chapters are written out and the story is on a roll. Please let me know what you think in a review or PM!


	11. Chapter 11

a/n: Hello guys! This chapter, the battle finally begins...no warnings beyond a bit of violence and weirdness at the very end and random characters popping in out of nowhere.

Chapter 11

_The following morning…._

Neji paced anxiously in the saferoom in the center of the castle. True, he was with Itachi and it was unlikely that Danzou's ranks would make it to their room, but he was still nervous. He flinched at the thought of all of the others getting hurt.

"Neji. Neji. Neji!"

Neji blinked and looked over at Itachi. "What?"

"Come sit here." Itachi opened his arms for him.

Neji sat down beside him, only to squeak in surprise when Itachi pulled him in to his lap. He grabbed Itachi's shoulders in order to regain his balance, but then moved so that his arms encircled his fiancé's neck.

Itachi's arms wrapped around his waist. "Waiting sucks," he murmured.

Neji tucked himself beneath Itachi's chin. "Yeah, it does."

XXX

Danzou's army of ANBU marched down the empty streets of the capital city.

"They knew we were coming." Gaara glanced around shiftily "They'll be prepared for us."

To his surprise, Danzou threw his head back and laughed until he cried.

"My lord? My lord!" Tobi ran and around panicking before settling on pounding Danzou firmly on the back.

Danzou glared at Tobi, who backed away saying "Tobi is a good boy! Yes he is…"

Danzou turned back to Gaara, wiping tears from his eyes. "They may be prepared for _us_," he gestured at the ranks of anbu behind him, "But they certainly won't be prepared for God and his Angel."

"God and his Angel?" Gaara asked curiously.

Danzou smiled grimly. "You'll see."

XXX

Shino raced across the rooftops stealthily and reported back to his team leader. "They're coming."

"How many of them are there?"

"There are about fifty three man squads. One squad is guarding Danzou, who also has his pet bird with him."

"Could you hear what they were saying?" Kurenai began to relay the message back to the other teams in the palace.

Shino hesitated before answering. "I heard the end of his sentence…something about God and his Angel."

Kurenai paused. "Well, whatever that means, it can't be good. You've done well, Shino. We'll retreat back to the Grand Hall and wait for them to arrive."

"Hai!" Team A vanished from the front steps of the palace and threw open the grand double doors of the Grand Hall before taking cover inside.

XXX

Danzou and his army mounted the front steps and grinned when he saw the marble doors.

"After this battle, I will mount these steps with the crown on my head," he gloated. "Look, they've left the doors wide open! Clearly, they mean to give us a grand welcome."

He missed the sinister look that Tobi gave him from beneath his mask.

"Halt!" Danzou bellowed, and turned to face his troops.

"You've waited sixteen years for this….sixteen years to claim the crown as ours!" he crowed over the troops. Grinning maliciously, he turned back to the doors and pointed forward.

"CHARGE!" he shrieked.

The ANBU swept forward in a wave and flooded the hall.

In response, the palace ninja popped out of hiding and soon, the sounds of clashing weapons filled the air.

The great battle had begun!

XXX

Neji burrowed deeper in to Itachi's embrace; even though they were deep in the heart of the castle, they could hear vague sounds of fighting.

Itachi rubbed his back soothingly. "I won't let anyone hurt you," he murmured with a determined expression on his face.

Neji looked up at him. "I don't want anyone to get hurt at all!" he sobbed in to Itachi's neck.

"We are ninja. This is what we were born to do," Itachi reassured Neji. "Besides, they're more than a match for Danzou's goons. It'll be alright."

Neji's mouth thinned and his arms tightened around Itachi briefly. "I hope so," he murmured. "I hope so."

XXX

Danzou surveyed the battle from his hiding spot and scowled in frustration; the palace ninja had just gained the upper hand. He didn't feel anything in his black heart when he saw that nearly all of squads had either surrendered, or were dead.

God and his Angel were due in at any minute now.

Danzou narrowed his eyes. The last squad had just set their arms now, the whole lot of fools. _Where are they?_ He anxiously bit his nails from his hiding spot.

Suddenly, he saw a flicker of motion from the corner of his eye, and an origami bird landed on his shoulder.

Danzou sighed in relief; God and his Angel had arrived on the scene.

XXX

Itachi and Neji were beginning to relax. The information relayed through Itachi's wireless headset was uplifting; it seemed that they had gained the upper hand on Danzou.

However, they both knew that this was hardly the end of the battle; the man had had _sixteen years_ to plot out whatever he wanted. Granted, he had limited resources due to the stupidity of his minions, but still. Sixteen years was a long time to think.

"The last squad just surrendered," Asuma's voice crackled over the intercom. "We're not sure what's going on now, it appears that there's no other movement in the area…people are taking the surrendered squads down to the dungeons and the hunt for Danzou has begun. He could easily have snuck past the fighting and headed towards the center of the castle, so be on your guard. We'll be sure to notify you when other developments take place."

"Thank you Asuma. We are alert and ready to take action." Itachi smoothed Neji's hair down with one hand.

"Right." The static sounded again before the two were left alone in silence.

Unbeknownst to our happy couple, Danzou had done just what Asuma had thought; after he received the origami bird he'd snuck out of the hall and in to the palace after slipping through the barrier to the noble quarters using a technique that he had learned from Tobi. Hey, the boy _was_ useful…occasionally.

Currently, he was searching for where he was sure Prince Neji was hiding, but so far he hadn't seen any sign of occupation. He'd sent Deidara out ahead of him after camouflaging his feathers but Deidara hadn't seen anything yet either.

He tapped in to the communication device between himself and his ally. "When do you plan on attacking?"

"I'll attack when most of them are underground in the dungeons. You worry about finding the little prince and we'll do our own job," a deep voice growled irritably. "Don't contact me again unless it's something important, fool."

Danzou huffed irritably as he rounded the corner. He was now deep in to the castle, and he was fairly sure he hadn't checked this wing yet…

His eyes narrowed. The door was locked, and from what he could tell, the door was blocked from the other side.

"Sir leader, I've found the room where the prince is hiding in." For some reason, his ally had insisted on going by the alias of "Sir Leader". Danzou still wasn't sure why, or why the man had bothered to approach him in the first place (not that he was complaining), but he was still confident that he could get what he wanted from Konoha without too much fuss. After all, how smart could a person be with a nickname like "Sir Leader"?

"I'll send someone to go check it out."

Danzou sighed and sat back on his heels to wait; his plans were finally coming together. He would get the crown for sure after this.

XXX

Itachi's hand stilled for a moment and both shinobi sat in perfect stillness.

"There's someone outside," Neji breathed. "I heard someone talking."

Itachi pressed his lips to Neji's temple. "I know. We'll get out of here right away." Neji stood up quietly and both men snuck out of the room through the hidden hatchway beneath a barrel of flour in the storeroom. As they made their way down the secret passage, Neji gripped Itachi's hand tightly.

"Where does it lead to?"

"It leads to the pinnacle of one of the castle towers."

"How will we get out of there if they come after us?" Neji asked worriedly.

Itachi's lip twitched. "We fly away on the back of a giant eagle."

Neji blinked, and a sudden wave a relief washed over him. "Oh."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "I was joking."

"I highly doubt that. If you recall, I do have beast-speech. We could easily escape from the tower on the back of a giant eagle."

Itachi stared at his boyfriend for a moment before recovering himself. He'd forgotten about Neji's fey side. "Of course we can."

Neji smiled; the fact that he could actually do something in this situation restored a little bit of his confidence. All he'd been able to do so far was act like a damsel in distress (he hadn't even been allowed to wash his own clothes for heaven's sake!) but this was something he could do without fail.

XXX

Danzou resisted the urge to start whistling while he waited impatiently for whoever Sir Leader was going to send.

To his surprise, Tobi popped up. "Tobi is a good boy!" he chirped.

"…What the f*** are you doing here? I told you stay with Gaara and the others," Danzou scolded Tobi.

"Leader-sama sent me," Tobi said cheerfully while pulling his hands back.

"Leader-sama…" Danzou stared at Tobi for a moment, and then turned to run. He'd been double-crossed!

Tobi giggled and appeared right before him.

"Tobi is a good boy!" he squealed before thrusting the katana straight through Danzou's shriveled heart.

Suddenly, Tobi's demeanor changed, and he kicked the bleeding corpse to the side before studying the doors closely.

Once he'd broken past the barricade, he glanced back at Danzou's lifeless form with pitiless eyes.

"You were foolish enough to think that you could manipulate God, his angel, and Madara Uchiha."

a/n: Ho ho ho! So Danzou wasn't really the one behind the scheme! Anyways, hm...if you find any plot holes, please review or pm me cuz I've semi-edited this chapter. Otherwise, thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

**a/n**: Sorry I know this was a quick update, but the big stuff happens! (I would have held out another day, but unfortunately I won't be able to add anything new until tuesday. Sorry guys!) Disclaimer on my profile...no warnings.

Chapter 12

Itachi and Neji hurried down the passageway while Itachi frantically tapped in to the radio headset. "Someone approached the safe room, so we're moving to the tower now."

Asuma's voice crackled sharply over the dark passage. "What?! The chakra sensors haven't noted any activity in your area. I'll send someone to check it out and we'll prepare back up for you guys. As of yet, nothing's happened out here but I'm sure things will start stirring up down here.

"Godsend," Itachi said, his mouth thinning. "We're all doing the best we can."

"Same to you." Static crackled, and then the headset turned off.

Neji glanced backwards anxiously. "How do you think they got past the sensors?"

Itachi scowled. "It would appear that Danzou isn't as stupid as he seems."

Neji bit his lip. "So it seems," he said in a small voice.

XXX

The Palace ninja had gotten Danzou's armies down in to the dungeons and had gotten back up as fast as they could; no one liked the dungeons. They were dark, cold, and extremely creepy. No one stayed down there longer than they had to.

A man with dozens of heavy piercings all over his body surveyed the courtroom where the nobles milled about.

"It seems that our timing was a little bit off," a woman murmured beside him.

He grunted in response, not being a man of many words. The only reason why they were bothering to attack Konoha was because Uchiha Madara was employing them; it wasn't as if they had any particular grudge against the crown. Pain vaguely remembered the event of the fabled prince's birth; he'd seen it on a public news broadcast and recalled thinking that the child was incredibly adorable.

The man's radio transmitter crackled. "I'm going after the boy. Attack at your leisure." The static crackled off, and he and Konan shot a look at each other.

"Madara moves quickly," the woman murmured. The sounds of rustling paper filled the air.

The man snorted even as his hands began to move and create seals. "He has been waiting for a chance at the throne for sixteen years."

"Sixteen years is a long time to plan. One wonders why he didn't make a move before."

"Madara says the young prince is essential for his plans to take over the kingdom politically as well." Five figures joined Pain and Konan in their hiding place in the courtroom.

"He could have found the prince before this time."

"Madara alone is no match for the three fairies of Konoha."

Konan paused. "Are they here? We too, would eventually fall to them."

"My bodies will draw their attention elsewhere. They know nothing about us; they will be appropriately confused when we attack. Now, enough dithering. Prepare for my mark."

XXX

Sasuke and Naruto paused in an argument outside of the greenhouse. In the distance, they heard a powerful rumble.

A pot shattered inside of the greenhouse, and without another word both young men took off, their silly argument left in the dust.

XXX

Static crackled over Itachi's radio headset while Itachi was pacing anxiously in the tower room while Neji balanced on the windowsill while he communicated with the birds near the tower.

"Itachi! Are you two ok?"

"Yes, we're fine." Itachi paused at the sound of rumbling and then his stomach dropped when he heard the unmistakable clang of weapons on weapons over the transmitter. "The fighting has started up again."

"Multiple explosions have taken place in different parts of the castle. It would appear that six people with orange hair and heavily pierced faces have started fighting in different parts of the castle. Are they anywhere near where you are?"

"No, we haven't heard a thing," Itachi murmured. He glanced over at Neji who was animatedly chattering to a bird.

"Well, that's a good thing for now. We may have to leave Neji on his own and take you in to battle, though. These bodies possess incredible strength and huge amounts of chakra; for now, we're figuring out ways to defeat them but so far it's…not going well."

"How many-"

Asuma cut him off. "If you sense any movement in your area, leave immediately. You won't be getting any back up soon because they were intercepted by the intruders. Stay out of the battle until further instruction."

"Yes."

Asuma left his communication with Itachi just as Neji slipped off the windowsill. "The birds are saying that the fighting has started again."

Itachi closed his eyes and frustration at being torn between Neji, the orders, and being unable to help his fellow shinobi. "…Yes. Six intruders with incredible strength and power have invaded the castle."

Neji wrapped his arms around Itachi and tried his best to soothe his fiancé; he felt horrible knowing that he was the one holding Itachi back from going to defend his kinsmen.

Itachi sighed and buried his face in Neji's shoulder, readily accepting Neji's soothing presence.

"I'm sorry," Neji murmured. "If I weren't here, you wouldn't have to hold back."

Itachi pushed his face further in to Neji's neck. "It's ok. If you weren't here, the best week of my life would never have happened."

Neji blushed, but then his eyes hardened at the thought of someone coming up through the tunnel to come find them. "…The birds say that they'll take us to a safe place in the palace if that person makes it up here."

Itachi drew back slightly. "How will that work?"

Neji half-smiled, and Itachi decided he rather liked that expression on Neji's face. "They'll carry us. All you have to do is jump out the window."

Itachi snorted. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that." He kissed Neji's forehead for a moment before his eyes flicked to the trapdoor that they had arrived through. He could have sworn for a moment that he'd heard-

There it was again! The faint, steady rhythm of footsteps. Itachi released Neji and did his best to exude a calm aura. "I heard something from down below. I'm going to head down and see what it is."

Neji searched his eyes briefly before looking down and swallowing hard. "Ok." He helped Itachi open the entrance but before he left, Neji pressed a quick kiss to his mouth.

"Stay safe."

"You too, little bird." Itachi slipped away down the passage, leaving Neji alone and vulnerable in the tower.

XXX

Uchiha Madara smiled slowly in the shadows of the passageway leading up to the tower. It had taken him a good half hour to find the entrance to the passage, but once he'd found it things had been relatively easy. He hadn't encountered any traps, or any back up in the tunnel. He'd created a jutsu of the sound of fading footsteps; it appeared that someone had fallen for the trap. Granted, they moved quietly and with stealth, but no one was a match for a seasoned veteran such as himself.

Madara raised an eyebrow when his great-nephew Uchiha Itachi came in to view, intently tracking his genjutsu. Madara waited until Itachi passed him by before beginning to move forwards. He waited until he was sure he was out of earshot before breaking in to a run. The tunnel had gone nowhere but up; the young prince was surely in his hands now!

XXX

Neji had kept the trapdoor slightly open as he paced nervously in the small room. This place was the ideal fighting situation for him; he specialized in hand-to-hand combat, particularly in the Gentle Fist Style. Itachi had warned him to run if an enemy came up through the trap door, but honestly, the chances of him having enough time to make it out the window were minimal.

Neji drew back in shock when a glowing green orb floated out of the hatchway. He surveyed it curiously as it bobbed up and down slightly in the air.

It wasn't doing anything; it was simply floating in the air while glimmering pleasantly…

Neji's eyes glazed over, and he reached out to try and touch the beautiful orb. To his surprise and frustration, it floated away just out of reach. He stumbled forward in an attempt to catch it.

He was a bit surprised by the force of his yearning crashed down on his mind. He didn't know why, he simply _had _to have the beautiful green ball of light. If he caught it, the fighting would stop, wonderful things would happen…if he caught it, he could show it to Itachi! Then, Itachi would see all the wonderful things as well…

Neji tilted his head curiously when the green light shimmered directly over the pointy tip of a strange contraption that had appeared in the center of the room. The contraption had a pedal and a wheel and was moving on its own producing a long thread.

Neji frowned; why did the contraption look so familiar? He cast his mind back to a memory of his very early childhood; his three aunts were sitting around him while showing him a picture of something with ominous and worried looks on their faces, almost as if they were trying to warn him about something.

Neji shook off the memory. That didn't matter; he had to get the green light so that he could give it to Itachi. He reached towards the pointy tip of the contraption, but just as he fingers were about to close around the orb, it vanished! Neji gazed in bewilderment, and suddenly he remembered what the contraption was called; if he touched one his seal would-

Gasping, he tried to jerk his hand back but someone had seized his wrist and forced his hand on to the tip.

Neji felt a stinging sensation in his palm before he fell down in to the dark, beckoning world of dreams.

XXX

Madara tucked his spinning wheel summoning scroll away before inspecting the wound on Neji's hand. Only the slightest amount of the poison that Danzou had developed was needed to enter Neji's bloodstream in order to activate his curse seal and put him in to a never-ending sleep.

You see, Danzou hadn't known about the counter-curse that would save Neji-kun's life. On the other hand, Madara had, and had instantly begun plotting his scheme to take over the throne.

He grinned, but then turned back to the door at the sound of harsh breathing and someone climbing up in to the room.

He turned around, surprised to see his great-nephew staring at Neji's still body on the floor beside him.

Itachi's eyes burned with fiery anger. It had taken him too long to figure out the genjutsu; he was too late to save Neji!

"What did you do to him?" he hissed angrily, pointing his katana directly at Madara.

Madara smiled benignly. "He isn't dead, you know."

Itachi's eyes flickered over to the spinning wheel directly behind Neji's body. "…you're not Danzou."

Madara cracked a smile. "You are correct."

"How…Who are you?" Itachi's katana pointed unwaveringly at Madara.

Madara put on a wounded expression as best he could with his single eyes showing through the mask. "My dear great-nephew, how could you not know me?"

Itachi's eyes widened and Madara grinned at his devastation.

"I'm your great-uncle, Uchiha Madara…the _true_ heir to the Uchiha throne."

**a/n**: Again, please let me know about plotholes or any confusion...I hope you enjoyed! (I'm sorry about the cliffy lol)


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **hello everyone! Thanks for OVER 20 REVIEWS! *hooray* Anyways…and onward! Disclaimer on my profile, no warnings except for Madara who is a creep.

Chapter 13

Itachi swore in his mind. He couldn't remember the end of Ten-Ten's counter curse, so he didn't know how to wake up Neji. He did, on the other hand, know enough that he had to recover Neji's body from Madara before something bad happened.

"Uchiha Madara…" he said slowly, racing for time. "You-your brother started the Uchiha line of rulers in our kingdom!"

"Correct," Madara drawled. He didn't see any problem spending some quality time with his great-nephew; after all, once they were finished talking, he was going to kill him anyways.

"But," Itachi said thinking fast, "If it was your brother who battled the previous king for the throne, why are _you _the true heir? And how are you still alive?" he added as an afterthought.

Madara knelt down again and checked Neji's pulse; he was relieved to find that Ten-Ten's spell had worked. "How am I still alive? You have aunts for fairies; I had my own magical assistance. As a matter of fact, I imprisoned a fairy, and the man fighting all of your forces is only fighting with me because I called a heavy debt from him."

Itachi raised an eyebrow at the word 'man'. Did that mean that the six people were all being controlled by one person? More importantly, if the man didn't have a grudge against the capitol then there was some hope.

Unfortunately, he had to hope that the others figured it out. He had to focus on Madara.

Madara hadn't stopped ranting. "Why am I the true Uchiha heir when my brother fought the battle? Because he only won with my help. At the very end of the battle, right before the current king of the time was about to stab in him in the heart, I placed the old man under genjutsu causing him to stab himself. However, rather than the credit going to me who had caused the final outcome, the people all believed it was my brother!" he spat angrily. "I, who should have been king, was shunted aside!" Suddenly, Madara's anger vanished and a sly expression crossed his face. "After all, Itachi-kun, you should know what I'm talking about. You trained for ten years of your life, only to have it thrown away in favor of your little brother."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Yes, the only difference being that I had no desire to gain power." He had trained for ten years of his life; what a laugh! He had wasted ten years of his life trying to please everyone around him. He didn't envy Sasuke one bit.

Madara laughed at that. "Who doesn't desire power? Who doesn't desire _gain_? Who doesn't desire wealth and riches? My little nephew, you tell me you didn't want the power?"

Itachi shook his head.

Madara smiled. "Well, little nephew, then you are a strange young man indeed." He looked down at Neji, and seemed to notice the young man's beauty for the first time. "Mah, I picked a good one."

Itachi crushed the panic that threatened to overtake his rational mind. "What do you want with him?"

Madara contemplated him for a moment. "Well, I suppose it won't hurt to tell you. You surely guessed what my overall plan is when I told you my status in the Uchiha family."

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "You want to take over the two kingdoms, or in the very least, the kingdom of the Uchiha."

"Correct. As you said, my desire is to gain control of the Kingdom of Hyuga and the Kingdom of Uchiha. Now, one cannot simply waltz in and claim the power over the kingdom once the old sovereigns are dead. There are politics and all sorts of things to handle, particularly the love of the people.

I need this boy alive to win over the hearts of the people. I will not rule an unhappy kingdom. My plan in the simplest terms is to kill the current sovereigns with the help of my two allies, who I employed at an expensive fee. After they accomplish that and I send them off with their money, I coerce the noble families or else slaughter them in order to start my reign. Then, I spread a false story and place the blame on another kingdom while I install a figurehead of state and run things from the shadows.

The figurehead, I'm sure you've figured out, is Prince Neji. However, he's currently asleep right now, but I have assembled an antidote to the poison and with a little fairy magic, he should wake up without needing his true love's kiss."

Itachi's heart beat sped up; that was the second half of the countercurse! He just needed a way to get Neji's body away from Madara.

Madara continued on, seemingly oblivious to Itachi's epiphany. "After he wakes up, I force him to do everything I say. After a while, we get married and I take over the two kingdoms."

Itachi stared at him. "…I can see some rather large holes in your plan. What about the rest of the Uchiha back at home? They won't just let you do this."

Madara snickered. "Easily solved, little nephew. I tell them that I have your parents hostage, and then they'll do everything I say."

Itachi's eyes hardened. "But you won't actually have them hostage will you?"

Madara beamed. "Smart boy! So the Uchiha haven't fallen to the dogs after all." He hoisted Neji over his shoulder in a fireman's lift; Itachi's blood burned at seeing his boyfriend handled in such a manner. "Perhaps I'll keep you alive after all; you're quite droll. Now, little nephew, move aside. I have some nobles to kill and coerce."

Itachi didn't move. His headset was still on, and hopefully Asuma was listening in. This was his only chance; he'd only been fooled by the genjutsu because he hadn't been expecting it.

"I challenge you for the crown."

Madara stopped dead. "What?"

"I challenge you for the crown," Itachi said steadily. "If I win, I kill you. If you win, you can kill me and everyone in this castle and carry out your crazy scheme."

Madara raised an eyebrow. He had no doubt that he could beat his nephew; what was there to lose?

He carefully set down the boy (the beautiful, beautiful boy!) in a corner of the room where he wouldn't be drawn to the conflict. "May I choose the weapons we'll be fighting with?"

Itachi's lips thinned. "Of course."

Madara thought for a moment. "Swords. We'll have a sword-fighting match. The stuff of fairy tales…only, I shall win," he smiled as he drew his sword from nowhere, "and you shall loose."

Itachi pulled out his standard-issue sword from his back. "Can you tell the future?"

Madara grinned. "Of course not."

Itachi's expression settled in to one of grim determination. "Then we shall see who was wrong and who was right at the end of our battle."

XXX

Asuma and the rest of the communication headquarters sat in shock for a few moments. Then, the team flew in to a flurry of action and began to inform every group that was currently being attacked.

XXX

Sasuke nearly fell over from shock, but was saved from being thrown in to a wall by Hanabi.

Naruto came in with his rasengan which hit Pain's body. Both parties retreated briefly, eyeing each other warily.

"Uchiha Madara is still alive? How did anyone not know this?" Hanabi demanded, her eyes trained on Pain.

Naruto butted in. "Your great-uncle's a creep!"

Sasuke grimaced. "He is."

"But…" Naruto continued on thoughtfully. "Madara said that the invaders don't have a grudge against the capitol city, which we can assume also extends to the entire kingdom of the Hyuga. We could try and talk it out."

All three of them instantly shifted in to a defensive formation as Pain began to run at them again.

"How are we supposed to talk to him when he's like this?" Hanabi yelped as she shot upwards to avoid a blow. "You're mad, Naruto!"

Sasuke shook his head at her. "He's right! Go in for close-range attacks and hopefully we can squeeze a few words in!"

"You're all crazy!" Hanabi shrieked even as she lunged forward in an attempt to use her gentle fist technique.

"We don't have another choice! Let me handle the talking bit. Just try and get him to hold still," Naruto panted.

Hanabi grunted and ducked. "Easier said than done."

Sasuke sighed and shoved his bangs out of his face. "We have to try though."

All three of them leapt forward with grim resolve.

**a/n**: I know the ending for the chapter was a bit awkward, but I hope you enjoyed! r/r plz :)


	14. Chapter 14

**a/n**: Hello everyone! Here's chapter 14...i chose to focus on the fight with Pain rather than Madara and Itachi sorry :( Anyways, nor real warnings. Disclaimer on my profile...enjoy!

Chapter 14

_Three hours later…_

Naruto, Hanabi and Sasuke were _still_ fighting the strange man that had come out of nowhere. Their progress so far was that to ascertain that yes, the man didn't have a grudge against the Hyuga, the man's name was Pain, and that he was bound by a contract that forced him to fight against the nobles.

"What kind of contract is it?" Hanabi shouted as she flipped backwards to avoid being stabbed by a chakra receiver.

Suddenly, Pain flew backwards in to a wall with so much force that the wall cracked and split behind him.

Hanabi, Naruto and Sasuke gaped openly as Aunt Hinata fluttered primly to the ground and dusted off her skirts.

"A-aunt Hinata?" Hanabi stared. No one had seen the fairy aunts for two days straight; hopefully, they could turn the tide of the battle!

Hinata ignored Hanabi. "An excellent qu-question my d-dear. D-depending on the type of c-contract, you can f-figure o-out a loophole."

Naruto crowed with triumph. "I knew that talking with him was the right thing to do, dattebayo!"

"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke scowled irritably. "We're fighting for our lives and all you can think to say was 'I told you so'?"

Naruto continued to preen despite Sasuke's harsh words.

Hanabi frowned and peeked out from her hiding place behind Aunt Hinata as Pain rose to his feet unsteadily. "What are we going to do? He's compelled to attack us through the contract."

Hinata sighed. "I'll help you out this much; I have to go help the other groups as well." She flicked her hands, and Pain was encased in a globe of light. "It'll take him about an hour to get out of that if he keeps going at it like he kept going at you three. "Feel free to talk to him while he's in there. Hopefully, you can figure out a solution when he gets out." Aunt Hinata's wings unfurled from behind her dress, and she took off in the direction of the next intruder.

"Thank you Aunt Hinata!" Hanabi called after her.

Hinata just waved back benignly.

Sasuke and Naruto rushed over to the glowing ball. "Can you get out?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

Pain responded by attacking one of the walls of the globe, only for the attack to be absorbed. "No, I can't get out," he called out.

"Great!" Hanabi said cheerfully before plopping down next to the light. "What kind of contract are you under?"

Pain sighed before turning back to examine the walls of his prison. "Fairy contract."

"Fairy contract?" Sasuke said curiously. "There aren't too many domestic fairies around these days. What did you do to upset one?"

"I owe a debt to that particular fairy. He helped me out of a spot of trouble a while back, and he called on me to fulfill my debt."

"Must've been a big bit of trouble if you're being forced to attack us nonstop," Sasuke observed.

"Yes, well. He helped me to gain the power that I currently have now," Pain murmured as he scanned the walls.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "That must have been a powerful fairy, 'ttebayo!"

Pain summoned a three-headed dog and nearly got squished under his paws. "No good," he muttered. The dog vanished in a puff of smoke and Pain rubbed his hands.

"Well, the thing about fairy contracts are that the terms have to be very specific!" Hanabi said. "We can find a loophole if you can tell us the exact term of the contract."

Pain sighed and attempted to attack the walls of his prison again. "I am older than you, wiser than you, and more learned than you. Ever since I was forced to accept the contract, I have been thinking of ways to escape it. What can you, a little girl do about it?"

Hanabi looked affronted. "I'm not _little_, I'm fourteen!"

Sasuke barely disguised his snort as a sneeze. "She's the heir to the Hyuga kingdom. I doubt you're more learned than her."

At this, Pain stopped and peered closely at Hanabi before turning back to escaping. "You look very much like your brother. I should have guessed."

"Just tell us the terms of your contract already! I'm sure we can figure something out!" Naruto said impatiently. Sasuke was amazed that Naruto had been able to stay silent for as long as he had.

Pain snorted. "Impatient much? Fine, here it is: I, the fairy…" Pain paused and tried to work his tongue, but found he couldn't. "It looks like I can't say his name. Anyways, I the fairy *insert name here* hold…Pain, to the charges of this binding contract on the grounds of borrowed power.

When the time comes, you will attack the designated areas according to Uchiha Madara's plan. You will then proceed to attack, injure, and make an example of at least one habitant of the castle of Konoha. You will stand guard over the remaining living members of the castle until Madara gives the signal to stop fighting, or when this contract is broken. So bound."

The three team mates sat in contemplation for a good half hour while Pain continued to attack the walls of his glowing bubble.

Suddenly, Naruto shot to his feet.

"I'VE GOT IT!" he shouted excitedly. "I've got a plan that will stop him from attacking us!"

Hanabi and Sasuke got to their feet as well. "What is it, what is it?" Hanabi said eagerly. "I couldn't think of anything beyond one of us sacrificing ourselves but-"

"Well, it won't be one of _us_," Naruto admitted looking uneasy for a brief second. "But there'll be next to no harm done."

Pain sat on his heels, severely tired. "Any plan you can come up with for me will also work for the other five intruders of the castle," he panted harshly. "And you might want to hurry with whatever your plan is because the walls are starting to weaken."

Naruto grinned in triumph. "Wait here. I'll be back in two minutes."

"Dobe-!" Sasuke yelped even as he watched Naruto's rapidly retreating back.

Hanabi's eyes darted worriedly between the dark corridor and Pain. "I hope whatever it is works."

Sasuke sighed. "Me too."

Hanabi chuckled suddenly. "I never thought that I would actually be depending completely on a plan made by Naruto for _fairy magic._ I mean, he can't even wrap his head around the idea of an enchanted forest."

Sasuke just nodded stoically. "God, dobe, please actually have something good," he muttered under his breath.

In a rare moment of tenderness, Hanabi walked over and took Sasuke's hands in her own. Together, over their clasped hands, they began to pray for Naruto's success.

XXX

Hanabi and Sasuke leapt apart when Naruto came racing back only to see him carrying…

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "Naruto…why are you carrying a dead cat?"

Hanabi just stared and tried not to cry. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could she have gotten her hopes up?

Ok, well maybe that was a bit harsh. Naruto did have his occasional moments of genius.

Naruto beamed. "Lady Mouse-catcher isn't dead yet! She's an inhabitant of the castle so if Pain just finishes her off, then his contract is fulfilled! We just let him and his buddies watch over the main hall after we regroup everyone!"

Hanabi, Sasuke, and Pain stared and stared and stared.

"That might just work," Pain said after a moment.

Hanabi jerked forward and grabbed the cat from Naruto. "Please work, please work, please work," she muttered under her breath. She hurled the cat inside of the bubble where Pain proceeded to deliver a lethal dose of chakra to the old animal's heart.

Hanabi bit her fingernails in another rare display of emotion. "Do you feel any different? Did it work?"

Pain stared at the cat. "It worked!" he grinned at the teenagers. "I am no longer being compelled to attack the three of you. Go on and relay your plan to your communication center. I hope you have five other animals on the verge of death."

Naruto grinned and crowed. "I knew it would work!"

"Shut up dobe," Sasuke muttered. Despite his harsh words, a small smirk settled at the corners of his mouth.

XXX

Kakashi swore when Asuma relayed news of how they could stop the attack.

"I'm practically on my own here. Everyone else that was with me are injured or can't move. How the hell am I supposed to find a nearly-dead animal that lives in the castle while this maniac keeps coming at me?"

"Leave that to me." Kakashi nearly fainted when a man with orange hair and a face full of piercings landed in front of him and fended off the attack. "I am one of the bodies to be freed from my contract. Rest and tend to your comrades; Naruto will sacrifice the animal shortly."

Kakashi made a face at the use of the word 'sacrifice' but instantly rushed to his comrades' sides, checking over injuries and doing his best to keep the others alright. He'd been in a group of fifteen or so ninja when they'd heard the explosions. They'd all gone running around a corner only for ten people to be knocked out by one of Pain's attacks. He'd been in the back of the crowd so he'd been saved but it appeared that several of his friends had broken bones and ribs from their impact in to the stone walls.

"Say, stranger!" Kakashi called out to his savior. He couldn't help but note with a worried air that his defender seemed rather tired. "What's your name?"

"You can call me Pain!" he called over his shoulder.

Kakashi frowned. "But the guy who's attacking you is called 'Pain' also!"

"Consider us to be five bodies being controlled by one mind," Pain shot back. "Don't distract me."

"Sorry," Kakashi muttered under his breath. He turned back to wrapping Iruka's arm; there was definitely something strange going on.

XXX

_An hour later…_

Hinata fluttered over the bodies of the wounded lining the Great Hall faster than the human eye could follow. Thankfully, King Hizashi and King Fugaku had been together at the time of the attack and had been able to form a formidable team against the body of Pain they fought against. Neither King was injured.

Those who were relatively unscathed were huddled in a circle around the five invaders who had each identified themselves as "Pain". They sat docilely in a group, so unfortunately, the nobles were left to worry over the fate of the two princes. All that Asuma knew was that Itachi had engaged Uchiha Madara in battle. Hinata wouldn't be bothered while she ran around near mad with concentration.

The men and women gritted their teeth. In the end, this was the most painful part of being a shinobi; it wasn't torture at the hands of the enemy, nor physical pain from training. It was being forced to sit back while your comrades and your countrymen put their lives on the line.

**a/n**: Hm...the ending for this chapter was a bit odd, but I wanted to address that conflict in my story. Anyways, Hanabi and Sasuke aren't romantically interested in each other...she was just being nice for once, lol. Next chapter is the Itachi/Madara fight, so keep your eyes peeled! R/R plz :)


	15. Chapter 15

**a/n**: Hello! And I bring you…the Itachi/Madara fight! Enjoy! No warnings because I suck at writing fight scenes…Disclaimer on my profile. Also…we've hit the magic numbers a while ago, but I completely forgot to mention it…

OVER 20 REVIEWS AND 1000 HITS! Thank you to everyone for reviewing and reading this story so far!

Chapter 15

_Meanwhile…_

Itachi and Madara circled each other warily; by Itachi's reckoning, they'd been battling for nearly four hours now.

Madara had been surprised by the skill level at swordplay that Itachi possessed. He would certainly keep his nephew around afterwards; he really was fun to play with.

Madara's eyes narrowed. Now, however, he was simply wasting time with the boy. He needed to finish things off.

He leapt forward in a deadly attack, but he was stunned when Itachi blocked it. "You are quite good for a man your age."

"You mean for a twenty-one year old?" Itachi said wryly. He drew back when Madara slipped out from the deadlock of their swords.

"Well in comparison to a seasoned veteran such as myself, yes." Madara frowned, and his eyes flitted towards the window. How much time had passed? This was supposed to be a quick and easy trip; he was going to have stopped the fighting by informing everyone that he had the prince hostage three hours ago.

Itachi lunged forward and Madara barely blocked him in time. They were both sweaty and aching, and each had various cuts and bruises on their bodies.

"Give up already," Madara sneered. "You cannot defeat me."

Itachi smirked and ducked under Madara's sword. "You said that at the beginning of our battle, and yet I am still alive. I would not be so sure of that if I were you."

Madara pulled his sharingan out. He had wanted to keep this a nice, clean fight but too much time had passed. The bond that he was holding Pain and Konan under was growing weak, and he couldn't lose his little fairy prince could he? Madara smirked and placed Itachi under genjutsu.

He grinned with victory and lunged forward to stab Itachi in the heart only to find that he was lunging through thin air; he barely threw himself out of the way in time to avoid Itachi's attack. "How…?"

Itachi smiled. "You cannot fool me so easily with a simple genjutsu, great uncle."

Madara scowled and he hated how his breathing turned harsh with effort. "You fell for the footsteps before."

Itachi wiped a trickle of sweat off his face. "I was expecting the fool Danzou, not a great master-mind as yourself."

Madara couldn't help but feel moderately flattered. "Why thank you, nephew."

Itachi smirked. "I would say 'you're welcome', but I feel that this would be an inappropriate circumstance."

Madara's eyes searched frantically for an opening in Itachi's defense. So far, he'd kept up a strong front and had blocked every attack that Madara had sent on him. However, he also knew that Itachi had to be getting tired. Maybe he should just keep pushing him until he was too exhausted to continue…?

Meanwhile, Itachi himself was starting to get worried. They'd been fighting for _four hours. _Four f***ing hours! He wouldn't be able to hold out much longer, but hopefully neither would Madara.

Things were falling to desperate measures.

Madara lunged forward with an attack to the head. Itachi threw himself out of the way before scoring a cut on Madara's leg. He would have to wait until Madara gave him an attack to his lower body.

Madara engaged Itachi in a close-range exchange of blows and Itachi kept up well with it until Madara suddenly pulled out a move and disarmed him.

Itachi watched his sword fall to the ground beside him in an almost dream-like state. He stared at Madara, waiting for him to finish it off.

Madara grinned maniacally from behind his mask. "Good-bye little nephew. I'm sorry that we had to meet like this."

The sword arced downward towards Itachi's heart.

_Just in time._ Itachi allowed his legs to give out beneath him.

Madara flinched in surprise when Itachi fell to the floor of his own accord. The sword missed his heart and hit his stomach instead. Blood gushed out of the wound and during his cringe at the amount of blood that covered Itachi's body, Madara failed to notice Itachi grab the sword glittering on the ground next to him.

"Your death will simply be more painful nephew," Madara stared in disbelief. "Why did you-" Madara suddenly stopped speaking.

Itachi had sat up despite all odds and stabbed Madara straight through his ancient, shriveled heart.

Itachi panted harshly as he twisted his sword in to Madara's body. "A bastard like you doesn't deserve a quick death!"

Madara slowly sank to the floor. Everything hurt; the world was hazy. Somehow, his nephew was standing up, painfully pulling the sword out of his stomach and was stumbling towards his bride with blood gushing down to his body-

Madara's eyes fluttered shut. In the end, all his plans had come to naught.

XXX

Itachi painfully pulled the sword out of his body before stumbling over to Neji. He only had a few minutes left.

He bent over and clumsily pressed his lips to his love's before closing his eyes and promptly passing out.

XXX

Neji's eyes fluttered open and he blinked a few times before screaming so loudly that the stones of the room shuddered at his pain.

"ITACHI!" he screamed. He carefully slipped out from beneath him before turning him over. "Oh god, Itachi! Why? Why!" he sobbed. He didn't know anything about medicine, and Itachi's wound was far beyond his capacity to deal with.

He looked around and saw a dead man's body on the floor. Neji swallowed hard and nearly choked on the lump in his throat.

"Out of the way!" Neji allowed someone to roughly push him off to the side while he simply sat in shock. The sight of Itachi, almost certainly dead, covered in blood, laying on top of him with his eyes closed and barely breathing had been far too much for him to handle.

XXX

Ten-Ten and Sakura instantly set to work over Itachi's body, placing him in a state of suspension and beginning to heal him with magic. Both women knew that Hinata had more than enough power from a few days of gathering up her chakra to take care of the other intruders in the castle. For now, their focus was Itachi.

They toiled over his body long and hard. He had a lot of internal organ damage, and he had lost nearly too much blood to be saved. Finally, they sat back on their heels and stared down at their handiwork.

Itachi's face was no longer twisted in a grimace of pain. The gaping wound in his side was a mere memory in the form of a pale scar, and the organs and inner workings of his body were healed again. They left him in his state of suspension (he still had to recover from his blood loss) and carefully approached Neji who appeared to be in shock.

Ten-Ten glanced out the window. Judging from the position of the setting sun, they'd been working over Itachi's body for several hours.

Sakura had gathered Neji up in to her arms, and gently drifted him in to the bubble to lie beside Itachi. There would be many mental scars for both children to deal with when they woke up.

Ten-Ten attempted to unfurl her wings, but ended up falling to the floor weakly.

"I can't get up," she whispered softly.

Sakura put a gentle hand on her forehead. "Sleep," she whispered. "You've done enough." When Ten-Ten closed her eyes without protest, Sakura slipped down the trapdoor and placed a barrier of the tower room before setting off to see the outcome of the battle.

She could only hope that the lack of noise coming from below indicated their victory.

XXX

Everyone leapt to attention when a bedraggled figure entered the hall, but they all drooped slightly when they realized that is was Sakura.

"Where is my son?" King Hizashi shoved through the crowds and strode towards Sakura. "Where is he?"

King Fugaku followed close on his heels.

Sakura blinked blearily at them. "They're alright. Itachi is recovering from a severe stomach wound and Neji and Ten-Ten are resting with him."

"What of Madara?" Hinata shot over towards Sakura.

Silence reigned over the hall.

"Madara is dead. Itachi killed him at a great price to his body." Sakura sighed deeply.

The hall erupted in to cheers.

However, King Fugaku moved in closer to the two fairies with a worried expression on his face. "Will he be alright?"

Sakura glanced at Hinata before answering slowly. "He will make a full recovery, but…it would not be, ah, _beneficial_ for him to continue his career as a palace ninja for a while."

Fugaku relaxed at last. "Then he will be alright."

Sasuke listened to the conversation from behind Fugaku. "How long will it be until he can fight again?"

"A very long time. A year or two, perhaps," Sakura said softly. She hated bad news.

Fugaku turned to his youngest son and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Sasuke, don't worry. You know that Itachi was planning on retiring from the ranks very soon anyway. Everything will be alright."

Sasuke pursed his lips. "If you say so, father."

Fugaku opened his mouth, but Naruto chose that moment to tackle Sasuke in a bear hug.

Sakura smiled tiredly at the two's antics before turning to Hinata.

"They're all sleeping?"

"Itachi lost a lot of blood, and he'll need to stay in bed for at least a few days. Neji was in shock when we got there, and he'll need therapy of some sort. Ten-Ten was so tired after healing Itachi that she fell asleep right away so I set up a barrier and left them to rest. I think that she'll recover after a good night's sleep. She'll have to stay off magic for a few days, though."

Hinata sighed in relief. "Then…everthing's really alright then?"

Sakura smiled brightly for the first time all day. "Yes…everything really did work out perfectly in the end."

**a/n:** And there you have it! We just have two chapters left to wrap up all the loose ends…it's really sad how this story is going to end soon. I hope you enjoyed, and keep your eyes peeled for the next update! R/R please :)


	16. Chapter 16

**a/n**: Hello everybody! This is the penultimate chapter in which Sasuke is a douche and Neji and Itachi work out some issues. Disclaimer on my profile, no warnings…enjoy!

Chapter 16

_Three days later…_

Neji brushed his hands off and straightened up from the area that he was helping repair in the castle. Everyone was rushing about, madly planning and building all in time for the wedding in four days.

Neji's cheeks colored faintly at the thought; despite everything that had happened, he was still getting married barely a week after turning sixteen.

The intruders had vanished shortly after the news of Madara's death had been received. It had been a bit odd, but there wasn't anything anyone could do about it, so no one really paid attention to it although the ANBU prisoners were being scattered across the country to work in agricultural areas. They were enspelled so that they couldn't fight ever again.

A few had remained and were currently helping with repairs under the watchful eyes of the palace guards. Neji winced as one of the prisoners nearly dropped a heavy wooden post on the ground. The ANBU really were quite useless.

Kurenai nodded in his direction, bringing him out of his thoughts. "You've worked long enough. Go on and take a break, Neji. Come back in an hour; it's your last day working anyways."

Neji nodded and hurried off to go clean up before grabbing something to eat. His father had permitted him to work three days on the repairs for the castle before he would be pulled off to the side to start his princely duties and beginning to make his own personal preparations for the wedding.

Neji hesitated a moment outside the kitchens before slipping in quietly.

Shikamaru grinned and shouted something over the wild din of pots banging and general chaos before gesturing wildly at the little circle he and some other friends on break had cleared for themselves.

Neji smiled shyly and crossed the kitchen to join them. To his surprise, when he stepped in to the circle, the noise of the kitchen faded quite suddenly.

Chouji grinned up at him and moved over to make room. "It's a technique that Sasuke learned a while back. It's real useful about now."

Neji smiled nervously at Sasuke (Sasuke _still_ kept staring at him funny) before taking some bread off the platter in the center.

"This is your last day working on repairs?" Shikamaru said around a mouthful of food. Ino made a disgusted face at his side.

"Yeah," Neji murmured. "I have a lot of other things to take care of before the wedding."

At that moment, Naruto entered the circle and plopped down on Sasuke's other side. "Well, I think getting married beats having to work on repairs," he complained. "I'm soooo sore!"

Neji stiffened imperceptibly, but Shikamaru caught it. "Hey, Itachi's still asleep isn't he?"

"No," Neji said quickly, without looking up. "He woke up this morning."

"Have you gone to see him yet?" Sasuke said interestedly. "I dropped by right after he woke up. He was pretty anxious to see you."

Neji fidgeted and blushed. "U-um…I haven't had…time to go see him yet."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You better go see him now, then, before your break is over."

Neji twisted his hands worriedly. "U-um…we'll see. I was actually thinking about going back early since this is my last day and I want to do as much as I can-"

Sasuke cut him off brutally. "My brother almost died for you, and you repay him by avoiding him?"

The whole group froze.

Neji stared at Sasuke, and everyone shifted uncomfortably when they saw his eyes fill up with tears.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Neji murmured softly.

"You're right, I have _no idea what the hell is going on._ You should've been by his side until he woke up, you could at least have gone to see him; he's been dying to see you! I don't understand what the problem between you two is!"

Neji's eyes flashed with potent, icy rage for a moment before he got to his feet with an expressionless face. "Obviously. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to finish my work."

He spun on his heel and left the kitchen, fuming.

Naruto punched Sasuke in the side.

"Ow!"

"You deserved that."

"What did I do to deserve that?"

"You made him cry," Naruto said as if it were obvious. "And since Itachi isn't here to beat you up, it's up to one of us to do it for him. For god's sake, can't you even be a little sensitive for once? It's not as if Neji _hates_ Itachi right now; he just needed a little push to work up the nerves to go see him. You didn't have to slap him in the face like that."

"I didn't slap him in the face," Sasuke protested.

"No, you're right. You didn't slap him in the face so much as cut his heart in to little tiny pieces and stomp all over them. God, what is _wrong _with you?"

Sasuke sighed. "After what Itachi did, the least he could do was-"

Naruto exploded. "The least he could do?!" he shrieked. "_The least he could do?!_ Oh my kyuubi, did you even think about Neji's feelings?! You're the most unfortunate wart with the emotional range of a teaspoon that I've ever had the chance to meet!"

Sasuke blinked. "…You've met a wart with the emotional range of a teaspoon before?"

Naruto actually _snarled_ right in Sasuke's face before storming out of the kitchen.

Sasuke stared at the other teens helplessly.

Shikamaru sighed and took another bite of chicken. "You did have it coming to you."

Sasuke got and set off after Naruto and Neji in order to apologize for his harsh words.

XXX

Neji flinched when someone laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You've done enough for today Neji. Good work. With all the help you've given us, you've already reduced our workload for the next few days. Well done!"

"Thanks," he said proudly. "I'm glad I could help everyone."

Kurenai winked at him. "Alright, well, run along now. I'm sure you have many other things to do."

Neji smiled softly. "Thank you. I'll try and stop by during my free time to help out some more."

Kurenai grinned. "We'll be glad to have you. Take care, now."

"You too."

Only now when he was dismissed from work did he allow the fury he'd felt at Sasuke's harsh judgement come flying through him. Even though Sasuke had found him and apologized, Neji was still hurt by the other boy's words.

Doing the repairs was not an easy job; it involved quite a lot of lifting and the skilled use of tools as well as running around with stone blocks. He couldn't be distracted while he was working lest he injure himself or someone else, but now he could certainly think about it.

Yes, he was avoiding Itachi, but he was going to go see him in the evening. He wanted to spend quality time with Itachi, and…

Ok, well maybe he could have poked his head in to say hello. But he was nervous and scared; was Itachi angry with him? Did Itachi still feel the same way about him? How should he react when he first saw him? The hurricane of emotions roiled around in his stomach and he swallowed nervously.

Well, he'd promised himself, so no he had to go. After taking a shower and getting dressed, he was definitely going to see Itachi.

XXX

_Later that evening…_

Neji slipped in to Itachi's make-shift sickroom after Aunt Ten-Ten let him in before leaving to give the couple some privacy.

To Neji, Itachi appeared to have fallen asleep again. His face was still, and he was lying beneath the sheets in an old t-shirt and comfy jeans.

He slipped across the room and sat down at Itachi's bedside before leaning over and brushing a soft kiss over his forehead. He gave Itachi a long, pained but loving look before standing up again and walking away.

Unbeknownst to Neji, Itachi had been watching the entire exchange from his barely slitted eyelids. He sat up and winced slightly before propping himself on his elbows.

"Going so soon?"

Neji flinched, but didn't turn around from his position in front of the door, with his hand on the handle. "…You should get your rest. I don't want to disturb you."

Neji's eyes widened at the sound of rustling sheets, and he whirled around in time to see Itachi shoving his sheets aside and attempting to get up off the bed. He instantly rushed over to his side.

"What are you doing? You should stay in bed-" Neji squeaked when a pair of strong, firm arms pulled him in to Itachi's lap.

"I've been recovering remarkably quickly. They're letting me out of here tonight."

Neji flushed at how easily Itachi had manipulated him, but didn't say anything. Instead, he simply traced a vein on Itachi's arm.

"Neji?"

Neji maintained his stony silence.

Itachi sighed. He knew something like this would happen eventually. "Are you angry with me?"

Neji pursed his lips. "Mmm…not really, no."

"Then why won't you talk to me?"

"There's no point in trying to explain to you because you would have just done it anyways!" Neji pushed himself off of Itachi's lap and headed for the door.

Itachi was up in a flash; he wrapped his arms around Neji, effectively stopping him from leaving. He knew exactly what Neji was talking about, but he couldn't help but fire back a response. "If you know that I would have done it anyways, why are you angry?"

Neji froze in Itachi's arms for a moment before relaxing. "You terrified me. Do you know how scary it was to see you lying on top of me and dying, and there wasn't a single thing I could do about it? Did you even think about what you were doing for a second-"

Itachi cut him off. "If you're angry because I got myself stabbed for you, you should think again. It was to kill Madara."

Neji whirled around in Itachi's arms and slapped him hard across the face.

"You thought I was angry because this was about _me_?! I was worried about you! Everything is about you!" Neji's voice softened at the end of his sentence, but he didn't apologize for striking Itachi.

Itachi didn't let go of Neji even though he was itching to rub his face. Damn, Neji slapped _hard_. "…Everything is about me, hm?"

Suddenly, Neji burst in to tears.

Itachi's shoulders slumped, and he pulled his boyfriend in to his chest. He felt like a total bastard, but how was he supposed to explain to Neji that it had to be done?

He pressed sweet kisses to Neji's soft chocolate hair while Neji clung to his shirt and sobbed. "…I'm not going to apologize for what I did."

Neji sniffled a little bit before reaching up and wrapping his arms around Itachi's neck. "I know."

Itachi's heart broke at that, but he continued anyways. "I _am_ sorry for making you cry, though. It had to be done, Neji. Madara had to die."

Neji bit his lip. "I know," he whispered softly, "but…"

Itachi kissed his forehead. "I know what you mean."

Neji closed his eyes for a moment before standing on his toes to kiss Itachi on the cheek. "…Sorry I hit you."

Itachi's arms tightened around him. "Don't apologize. I deserved that."

Neji scowled, but persisted. "Please, please accept my apology! I'm sorry I hit you! You're always kind to me and you've never hit me but I…"

Itachi smiled softly. "It's ok. I forgive you."

Neji sighed in relief. "Good."

Itachi leaned down to kiss him.

"I missed you," he whispered softly.

"I missed you too," Neji murmured, desperately trying to hide the fact that his eyes were filling up with tears again.

"What's the matter?" Itachi knew that they were both very emotional at the moment, but he knew that Neji's tears weren't because of their…previous argument.

Neji flushed, and then delicately stepped out of Itachi's hold for a moment. Itachi released him reluctantly.

"Hey, what's the matter? You can tell me anything."

Neji took a deep breath and pushed his hair behind his ears nervously. "U-um…is it…"

Itachi waited patiently while Neji fiddled with the ends of his hair.

"Is it really ok to love you?" Neji finally whispered to the ground.

Itachi gawked at him openly before sweeping him back in to his arms. "What do you mean? Of course it's ok to love me! Why wouldn't it be? Haven't we both said that we love each other before anyways?"

Neji flushed and his face in Itachi's shirt. "Well…some people in the castle were talking, and…um…they were saying…I'm so much younger than you are, and um…"

"They thought our relationship was twisted and strange?" Itachi finished for him. "Neji, I love you. That's the only thing you ever need to think about. Don't ever let anyone else decide how we feel about each other."

Neji smiled a little. "Ok. I just…I was worried that maybe you thought that too…"

Itachi scowled, and his mind blew in to a furious rage. "Hyuga Neji! Don't you _ever_ imply again that I don't love you for who and what you are! You're the most precious person in the world to me!"

Neji ducked his head; he hadn't meant to hurt Itachi's feelings. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's just…I…"

Itachi instantly felt bad. God, what was wrong with him? He was being a total ass towards Neji. "No, it's ok. It's my fault for getting angry with you and just being horrible to you in general."

Neji giggled softly before tilting his face up. "It's ok."

Itachi breathed a sigh of relief and bent down to kiss him again. "Thank goodness."

Neji surrendered himself to the kiss, and before he quite realized what was going on, Itachi had pinned him against the wall.

"Mmm…Itachi, wait."

Itachi pulled back. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to do anything," he gently assured Neji. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and Neji squirmed uncomfortably as Itachi's eyes slid down his body. "Itachi? 'Tachi?"

"When you were sleeping…Madara didn't treat you the way you deserve," Itachi growled. He leaned in and kissed Neji hard, leaving him breathless.

"And what way is that?"

"Gently, and with love and care," Itachi told him, smiling slightly. "That's the only way you should be treated."

Neji grinned suddenly, all of his insecurities and doubts about Itachi gone with the wind. "You're so sappy Itachi."

Itachi just laughed and scooped him up, garnering a blush and a squeak from his prince. "W-what're you doing?"

"I got cleared to return to my apartments. Come stay with me tonight, and we can talk and cuddle and just…spend some time together."

Neji smiled faintly, the blush still present on his cheeks. "That…that would be nice."

Itachi grinned, and chuckled before stepping out in to the hall while trying to figure out a way to sneak past Neji's father unseen.

**a/n**: And…the next chapter will be the last. *sniffle* R/R…let me know about what you think of Itachi and how he treated Neji :). See ya next chapter! And yes, Itachi's sexual frustration is showing up again lol.


	17. Chapter 17

**a/n**: And…this I the final chapter of Sleeping Beauty! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end (well, I don't know how good the writing was but y'all must've liked it to a certain extent since you stayed with me to the last chapter). THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT, REVIEWS, AND PMS! This was my very first story that I've published online and you all have encouraged me to keep going and try and improve as a writer. Now…on to the story! Disclaimer on my profile, no warnings.

Chapter 17

_The day of the wedding…_

Neji twisted the smooth fabric in his hands. "…Remind me why I have to wear a dress again?"

Ten-Ten smoothed a lock of hair down his forehead. "You look lovely. Come on, your aunts even made this dress for you; you should thank them."

Neji groaned. "That's exactly why I'm worried," he muttered under his breath.

Ino looked up from where she was making some final adjustments to the train of his wedding dress. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Neji smiled down at her. "Just a little nervous, I suppose."

Cousin Hinata stitched a pearl to the skirt of the flowing dress. "It's only natural, Neji-nii-san. You know that Itachi-kun is madly in love with you."

Neji ducked his head and blushed. "I know, I know. It's just…a bit of a whirlwind courtship."

All of the girls cooed over his adorableness while Hanabi just snickered. "Oh, brother, it's a bit more than a whirlwind courtship don't you think? Oh, and keep all of us girls entertained; tell us how you two met!" Hanabi was currently perched on a stool while Hinata had moved over and was sewing on some ribbon and patterns to her lavender bridesmaid dress.

Neji paled slightly; Itachi wasn't here to save him, and there was no way he could stand up against ten girls. "Um…well…"

"Go on, go on!" Activity stopped in the room for a few moments while the girls listened in eagerly.

"Well," Neji took a deep breath and smiled a bit. "He was in the forest that I was living in with my aunts when he found me, somehow."

"What were you doing when he found you?" Ino picked up her needle and thread and busied herself with Neji's train. Really, there wasn't anything major to add or be fixed, but since there had been barely any time to prepare for the wedding, everyone was frantically adding touches to the bride's wedding entourage and apparel. Currently, the fairy aunts were running around the Great Hall preparing everything for Neji's grand entrance.

"Hm…I was picking berries," Neji said after a moment's thought. "Then, there was also a black dragon in the forest at the time who's name is Sai. The dragon was launching another attack on the area of the forest, so I brought Itachi with me to our cottage for shelter."

"Aw…you're so sweet, Neji," Ten-Ten teased him as she sat back, her work finished on Neji's hair and veil.

"Yes well, you should have seen Itachi," Neji smiled softly. "He offered to go fight the dragon and then…" Neji blushed as he remembered the kiss.

Hanabi cackled triumphantly. "Ohohohoho! So there _was_ something else, wasn't there?"

Neji flushed. "N-no…"

All the girls stared at him disbelievingly.

Neji relented. "Fine…he kissed me about two seconds after we met. After that, he ah…pursued me relentlessly."

Neji groaned mentally while the girls cooed and sighed all around them.

"You know, you two are practically like a fairy tale. You meet in an enchanted forest, fall instantly in love and well…end up getting married two weeks later after defeating a curse," Ino mused. "Your train is finished, Neji. We just need to sew a couple more seed pearls on to your skirt and then you can look in the mirror."

"Well we are a bit of a fairy tale, and thank you." Neji fought the urge to shift his legs as the girls' fingers flew across his dress. "You all look very pretty in your dresses."

"Nothing compared to you. The aunts didn't even have to put any glamour in to your dress, and you're still absolutely _gorgeous_." Hanabi stood in front of him with critical eyes. "We've got to hurry everyone; Neji's supposed to go out in ten minutes."

All the girls sat back and sighed in relief. "Done," Ino pronounced with satisfaction. "It's brilliant, Neji. You've got to see yourself in the mirror." They all stood up and brushed off their own dresses before carefully guiding Neji to stand in front of the floor-length mirror in the dressing room.

Neji couldn't hold back a gasp when he saw his reflection.

He was in a sleeveless, pearl-white wedding gown with a ribbed bodice and long flowing skirt covered in designs of silvery embroidery and pearls. The dress floated to the floor, and set off his hair and eyes so that he appeared to be glowing. He had a silver chain with a white lily pendant around his neck.

Hinata carefully dropped the veil, a carefully ruffled square of netting adorned with white flowers and sparkling jewels, on top of his head.

Neji's figure radiated purity, beauty and mystery.

All the girls sighed in rapture for the millionth time that day. They'd been in the room all day, preparing all the clothes and rehearsing for the wedding in the evening…Neji glanced at the clock.

"It's lovely," he murmured, not bothering to hide the delight shining through his eyes. "Thank you all so much!"

They all hugged each other, careful not to crush each other's dresses before getting in to their shoes.

Neji had _begged_ not to wear high heels, but in the end he found himself slipping on a pair of…

"Glass slippers?" Neji stared in disbelief at the delicate shoes in his hands. "Is it even safe to walk in these?"

"Don't worry, they're reinforced with magic. They're lovely!" Hinata crouched down and carefully slipped Neji's slender feet in to the shoes. "You'll be fine."

Neji smiled nervously at the crowd of girls in glossy, lavender dresses with ribbons and pearls in their hair. "Only if I don't trip on the way up the stairs."

Hinata hugged him suddenly. "I'll miss you," she whispered softly.

"I'll miss you too," he told her gently. Since he and Itachi were joining the two kingdoms through their marriage, they were going on a three-month tour through the kingdoms after their honeymoon. He wouldn't be able to return to the castle and see everyone for nearly four months.

Fortunately, the two kings had already agreed to make this castle the capital of the newly conjoined kingdoms, so he would be able to return home instead of having to leave for Itachi's home estate, nearly twelve hours by bullet train away. The capital was being re-named "The Village Hidden in the Leaves", and the newly conjoined kingdoms were still called "The Land of Fire".

There was a final round of hugs, kisses, and almost-tearful farewells when the door opened, and the three Aunts stood at attention by the door.

"It's time." Aunt Hinata stepped inside and handed him a bouquet of white roses.

One by one, the bridesmaids filed out ahead of him. Neji counted to thirty just as he had during practice, and stepped out of the room with his aunts following behind him.

He passed through the doors to the Grand Hall, and the orchestra struck up the wedding march. Neji did his best to ignore all the cameras broadcasting the wedding to the whole kingdom, as well as the huge audience. He did appreciate the huge intake of breath from the audience at his appearance, though.

Neji smiled nervously at Itachi who looked stunned before he began to walk down the carpet towards his soon-to-be husband.

Itachi snapped out of his daze and smiled comfortingly back at Neji as he made his way up the carpet.

Halfway down the hall, Neji reached Itachi. Itachi offered him his arm, and they continued the journey down to the front doors of the courtroom where the wedding would take place.

To Neji, the ceremony was a blur. His mouth moved of its own accord, and he did and said whatever he had practiced mechanically; later, the only thing he would really remember was the look of pride on the king's faces, and Itachi's kind and gentle expression.

"…You may now kiss the bride," the priest intoned.

Itachi leaned over and carefully moved Neji's veil to the side before sweeping him up in his arms and kissing him.

The crowd burst in to applause, and they parted before turning to the crowd and lifting their joined hands together.

Neji glanced over at the bridesmaids and Itachi's own entourage. He was surprised to see Hanabi and Sasuke crying along with everyone else, but his surprise was replaced with a smile as he looked up at Itachi, his husband.

_His husband._ Neji's heart filled with warm emotion at the thought.

Almost as if Itachi could hear his thoughts, he squeezed his hand tightly.

Neji knew they were both thinking the same things then as they headed down the carpet again.

_I love you._

XXX

Neji and Itachi left the reception after hours of dancing and talking and laughter by escaping in to the garden where they shared a sweet, long kiss.

Itachi lifted Neji's hand and surveyed the glittering ring resting on his finger. Then, he bent down and kissed Neji's fingers softly.

Neji blushed, but didn't pull his hand away. "'Tachi…"

Itachi leaned down and grinned before whispering in his ear. "It won't be long before they notice we're gone. This is the part where we run for the car, right?"

Neji blinked. "What? But isn't everyone supposed to see us off-"

"It'll be our joke on everyone else. It's not as if we won't have public appearances during our honeymoon either, and if you have any final goodbyes just skype them back at the summer house. Now, Neji, let's get going."

Neji smiled, and his heart beat a bit faster at Itachi's smile. "…right."

The only glimpse the public media had of the married couple driving off in their car was Itachi laughing in the back with Neji securely at his side as they sailed off in to the night.

XXX

_A few hours later…_

Neji snuggled next to Itachi on their wedding bed. They were currently at a summer home owned by the Uchiha family, and they would be staying here for a couple weeks before starting their tour of the kingdom.

"Neji," Itachi murmured as he nuzzled his neck.

"Mmm?" Neji didn't quite hold back a shiver, and Itachi started to kiss and suck on his neck softly.

"I love you."

Neji smiled. Itachi was such a sap.

"I love you too."

Later, when Neji woke up the next morning next to Itachi, he leaned down and kissed his forehead before curling up at his side again.

To his surprise, Itachi stirred beside him before sitting up.

"'Tachi?"

"There's something I want to show you," Itachi said. He slipped out of bed (Neji mewled slightly at the loss of warmth) and pulled a set of robes on.

Neji sighed and slipped in to his own dressing robe before following Itachi out the bedroom door.

"What is it?" they climbed a set of stairs out to the balcony extending from a room on the second floor. "'Tachi-" Neji stopped dead, and gasped in awe.

The sun was rising over a spectacular view of the surrounding city. The house was on top of a hill, and at the moment, Neji was convinced that he could see the entire kingdom.

Itachi slipped behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. "What do you think?"

Neji placed his hands over his lover's. "It's beautiful," he breathed. "Thank you for showing me, Itachi."

Itachi smiled over Neji's head. "You're welcome."

While the couple stood on the balcony watching the sunrise, Neji thought seriously about his future. Itachi was still recovering from Madara's attack, they were both still hurting from the events surrounding a week ago, but he was married and living next to the love of his life, and he could stay with him forever.

Neji smiled softly and leaned back in to Itachi's embrace.

There really just might be a "happily ever-after" waiting out for them. All they had to do was move forward.

Itachi poked his face in to Neji's neck.

"What are you laughing about?"

Neji smiled. "I thought…while you were sleeping in the hospital wing…I thought you might never wake up. I thought there would never be a happy ending for us."

"And now?" Itachi nuzzled Neji's hair lovingly.

"We'll live happily ever after. I'm sure of it."

Itachi smiled softly, and kissed Neji before leading him back inside.

Later, long after their marriage and well in to the future of the kingdom, they would agree.

Theirs was a romance matched only by the sweetest fairytale.

**Fin**

**a/n**: And…that's the end. Again, thank you all so much! I would never had made it this far without you. It's really amazing to me because I have been working on this story since November…nearly a year ago! I'm glad you all read this, reviewed and critiqued and helped shape me in to a better writer. Keep your eyes peeled for one-shots, more drabbles in 'Kiss me while I sleep' and a new story in a week or two!

Good-bye and see you next story!

-itanejiluver-


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